Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

E LLI Continued lrom poge j3 can onb/ believe to be some uncomplimen, tary things about Bri8nola to the assembled marshals. It was a weekend of geoeral nastiness in many quarters at Monza. Olllcious official- dom met an ill-tempered rider from the orient on Friday ni8ht. Monza's l€gendariry zealous and hauShty security 'taff at!emp!- ed to stop Noriyuki Haga from getting his car into the motor-home area. Fair enough in many ways, as he reportedly did not have the coreat pass. After a verbal squabble that went on and got nastier as it went, Haga grabbed one oI the officials around the neck and, as his FIM disciplinar/ norifi- cation stated. "Srabbed an oflicial in charge of the control Sate q/ the throat, resultlnt in scratches." Haga was llned a knee-trem- bling $5000 for his wild-man moment, but Xaus' double blow to Britnola - on track, durint a session, and in front of the TV carneras - went completely unremarked on by ofllcieldom. lt was deemed tfiat as each rider had apologized to the aeler/ant author- ities, and it was a moro o ma[o incident, no more would be said. Norick Abe suffered a monumental hiSh- side on Friday afternoon, as his Rl touched a wfiite line on the exit of Ascari. Abe ruf- fered an iniured riSht hand and a concus- iion. His head knock was so severe that he sPent some time under observation, opted not to ride at all on Saturday and was due to make his mind up about racint on Sun- day moming. He had qualified before his crash, which was in the lightest of wet con- ditions, when there were too few riders on track to keep the surface dry on the wih€ llnes, but he slipped down the ianking to 27*l. Team boss Hartial Garcia said, "the teleme- try shows that the reaf tire was spinning already and then suddenly let go. The bike went way up into the air and when it land- ed it landed ba.k end first and the two swinSarm spaE just rpla),ed ost flike th€ branches of the tree]. We have had to chante eYen/ding on it, as when tfie $,vingarm bends that badly, it stretches the chassis." l.lonza may have been the best qualifying weekend of th€ )€ar so far for the PSG- I Kawasaki team, but it c:rme at a price- Two big Saturday crashes for Chris Walker three engine problems for Fonsi Nieto that almost put him out of Superpole, and then held back his Superpole lap, and friclon in the rank that ReSis teconi had the ont "good" engine for Superpole made the astoundintly busy three-rider tarage a place of pain and pleasure unril race day dawned. krben Xau5, hrving linished his Brignola berating earty in Saturday's moming tifted qualifyiht, soon Iellagain - this time on his own, entering the fe*rsome Curva Grande He bounced as usual, and did not appear to re-iniure his preseason broken leg. Not sur- Conlineed on page 36 -:!i Briefly... Eorser Eets This Bne It was the two horsemen from the Land Down Under who went into the Superpole aompetition with the best tlnres under their belB, Troy Corser. Mr. Moti\rated 6ank5 to Troy Bay'iss' eady season form, snatched the best time from regulation qualifying, and thus, earned the right to be last away in Superpole. After his number-one ri,/al Bay'iss looked to have done enough to take it, the defending World Champion showed his desire to stara the two l8- lap l'4onza Superbike rices in number-one spot, taking his second Superpole win ofrhe year with a l:46.058 lap. Hls time was the best ofthe weekend so far, the best in the histor), of Superbike qualifying at this circuit, and over half a second from his previous fastest in ret- ulation qualifying earlier in the day. lt was his 36th career Superpole triumph, extending his all-time record ofSuperpole wins. Next best i5 the lonS-retired Carl Fotany. with 21. Bayliss set a personal-best qualifying time of l:46.350 in Super- pole for second place on the grid, having been fastest until Co6er stepp€d up and batted himself within .058 ofa second of the firi( sub 1146 lap. "ln general, l'm pretty satisfled, because everything s going quite well," Bayliss said. "l'm happy with the performance on the race tire, but all weekend, we've just been struggling with the bike, which is a little bit unstable at high spe€d. We'll try some minor change in the morning warmup, but I can deal with the problem. Apan from that, the bike is working well, and I put a Sood Superpole lap togeth- er My lap looked a bit hairy but it would be nice if I could relax a bit more on the straiSht instead of having to work so hard, We're rea- sonabl/ happy. but w€ iust want a tood day tomorrow with some Eood weather. and l'm sure we'll see some 8reat racing at the front." Four different manufacturers were represented on the front of the grid, aher KIaffi Honda s Alex Barros promoted himself to third and ReSis laconi blasted his bit Kawasaki PSG- I Corse machine to scoop the fourth fastest time. lt was Kawasaki's best Superpole result of the year thus far, thanks to l-aconi's unfettered aggression and the team's best engine being litted to his bike. Barros, who last raaed at Monza in the mid-'8os on an SOcc GP machine, was only deposed from the top ofthe time sheets by $e incredible pace ofthe baftling Aussie duo of Corser and Bayliss, and now started his fourth World Superbike meeting from the front row' for the first time. ''ln Valencia it was not easy for Honda, but in Monza especially at the Grande Curva it is possible to show the power ofthe engine and rider," Barros said. "The Honda is very good - maybe not at the level of$e Ducatiand Suzuki right now" Laconi's English reammate Chris Walker would start flfth on the _ Troy.Corscr chols.-with lege nd- Giocomo Five different bikes in the top six Agortini ofter quolifying on pole po5ilion. carne courtesy ofyamaha rider Andrew grid for the PSG- | Kawasaki Corse team, after a personal Monze best pushed him up from I lth in regulation. Saturday included wvo crashes for Walk- er, each ofwhich los! him valuable rime on track, and one of which rippd the enSine mounts on one of his ZX-1Ofu. It was Wllker's best Superpole qudiry- ing run of the 2006 season ro boot, despite him feeling grotty from his Urst crash. Pitt who scored sixth-best time, for a se(ond-row start behind Walker. Not bad for a rider who found he had the wrong mapping programmed into his ignation. Afaer a recent serious back iniury Karl fiuSgeridge made an impressive comeback and scored seventh in Superpole, one place up on his teammate James Toseland. "To 80 leventh after what had happened with my accident was not too bad, Muggeridge sard. "The second row start is okay, and so far, our weekend has gone pretty much okay. My health is good, and my body is not giving me any problems, so l'm quite confident for tomorrow I like the track and I think our bike will suit it." Toseland had made changes to his Honda for the untimed after- noon session. and they hadn't worked out, leaving his bike not quite ba.k ro its best setting from regulation qualirying on Sarurday morninS. Corser's ebullient teammale Yukio Katafama secured the ninth b€st tifie, hevint survived a scare under braking into the flrst chi- cane on his Superpole l+. As he hit the brakes his machine's rear end tipped up violently, and the rear end snapped round in dramatic fashion. F.agayama's great escape was no consolarion to a dis:p- pointed Noriyuki Haga who had an unexpectedly lowly lfth place in Superpole, after a top-four ride in regulation qualiring. Having iusr squeezed into Superpole in l6th place, Roberto Rolfo sprang for- ward to I lth, movint up a row and settinS himself up as favorite for bes! Ducati privateer finisher in the races. The last place on the third row was earned by pri\rate Suzuki rider Fabien Foret, who also hopped-up one row. Lorenzo lanzi headed up row four, with Fonsi Nieto and Michel Fabrizio for immediate company. Rutren Xaus had his chances ofa stronS Superpole performance ruined when his bike encountered a teahnical problem under brakinS after the first split, and he had to retire, dropping to an au[omatic l6th out of l6- He was nor helped pre-Superpole by two crashes in the morning session, being taken out in one and losing the front in (he ocher. "k wasn t a good day," Lanzisaid. "Quite simply, we were unable to get the right setup on the bike, and then I was unable to tet the best out ofthe qualifyjngtire. I also made a couple of errors durint my Superpole lap and here I am, forced to start from the fourth row of the Srid instead of the second. Let's hope for the besr tomorrow; it'll be touth to recover from so far back. lf you don\ latch on to the leadinggroup. you can forget about tetting back up with the fron- trunners." I CYCLE NEWS MAY 17,2006 35 we didn't not hive deal settings because we had to miss Irractice sessions." Sterilgarda Bank's Xaus was one of the first corner fallers in the opener, and took the last point on offer in race two. The last few plac6 in the points ( I lth through to lsth) in race one were seized by Walker, Sebasrien Gimbert. Fabien Foret, Lorenzo Alfonzi (Ducati PN Corse 999 this week, iust for a change) and lvan Clementi. From the relatively low-key end of Ducati's Monza experiences to the high- est of the high. Bayliss now sits on a meaty I 75 points from a possible 200 so far, while 2005 champion Corser is still well in the hunt with seven rounds remaininS, having scored 139. A close battle is developing for rhird, with Toseland on 97, Barros on 95 and Haga on 93, Cll WORLD fhc rop rhrcc celebrote ofter lhe second oI lwo roces in Itollc CoEer, Boylirs ond Hogo, { 'i,l,

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