Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1545842
ublic B]no ciicuir B]no. Cr.ch July 23, 2()()6 WORLD SUPERBIK€ WorH Superbike Championship Haga Eets His Third Yamaha Motor ltalia's Noriyuki Haga blew the opposition away with only his third career Superpole win, settint a new world Superbike fastest lap of 2.00.457 on qualifying tires. Believe it or not' the last time he wa' on pole was at Sugo in 2002. Today he was halfa second faster than rhe next rider, winsron Ten Kare Honda's James Toselahd, who had to ride Superpole on his spare machine after sufferint a cr:sh in the final regulation session. Hata's lap wai deceptivel), fast, and even his team boss, l4assimo i4eretalli thouSht he was out for quiet ride in the countryside. "He rode su.h a treat lap and was very smooth - in fact when I watched the lap on ry | commented to the team that he didn't seem to be pushinS ro hard," Meregalli said. 'lt was very satisryint to win our first Superpole, especially to do it with such a big gap to second-" "Yes, ofcourse, I am ver), happy with pole position," Hata said. "The feeling with the bike is very good and even before Superpole I knew the settings and tires I will use for the race. lwas able (o ride a good lap and get the pole. Tomorrow will be very hard work and I hope that the temperature wili be cooler for the ra.es. The tire wear is veq/ high in this heat, but that is the same for everyone and I am happy that we have ruch a good sefiing for the bike, as I expect some very hard races." Toseland had crashed in the afternoon session and was Iorced !o his back-up bike for Superpole. "We had a good qualiring so I am disappointed rhat I cnshed in the free session this afternoon, in my last lap before Superpole qualifyint," Tos€land said. ' I was a little bit skeptical about using my number-rwo bike because we had a few assues wilh it, but rhe guys did a great job in tettint it read),, and it felt almost exactly the same as my number-one bike and it wa5 good enough to let me go second ' so big thanks to them. lt would be nice to make a break tomorroq but tire wear will play a bit part and the). will be long races. So l'm Soing to ride my own way." Behind the lirst NvoJapanese bikes, the factor/ Ducati Xerox pairinS of Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy gayliss went third and fourth, respectively, to complete the front row. Bayliss had endured some low moments in his Brno weekend, but despite an imperfect Superpole, he took a much-desired front-row start, "lt's been a liftle bit different this weekend but it's all cominS together now," Bayliss said. "The l+ I did today was far from perfect, but l'm reasonably happy because l'm on the front ofthe grid and rhat's very important round here. Of course, i('s going to be a very IonS hard race tornorrow - hopefully, the weather will be fine but l'm really happy for Lorenzo [Lanzi] and all his Ians here and hope he can do a good iob for himself and the team. The last tests here we did a full-race simulation and it all went very well. Basically, l'll be on the same tire tomorrow, but honestly, after l0 laps here, everybody's in the same boat and you're iust goinS to have to hanS in there to the end." Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra's Troy Corser made up for a disappointing pair of qualiting sessions to record the fifth fastest lap of Superpole. promotint himself from l2th fasresr in regulation. Some lurid slides and near off-track excursions for his teammate Yukio Kagaya- ma - the fastest rider after retulation qualifyint - saw him drawant smoke from his rear tire, and sukequently droppinS to sixth. l'lisano race winner Andrew Pitt ended up seventh in Superpole on his Yamaha Motor ltalia Rl, taining one row and three places after regulation qualifying, while Winston Ten Kate Honda's Kad Muggeridge equaled his pre-Superpole eighth. Retis taconiand Fonsi Nieto, both on PSG-I Kawasakis, took ninth and l0th places on fie final Superpole time sheets, with Laconi surprised to be down on row three, after set- ting a much faster l+ than he had managed in the previous qualifyint sessions. Nieto, third fastest before Superpole, felt that he needed to prepare himself better for Superpole when he qualifles as well as he did here, citinS the long wait as a problem- A strong ride from Alstare Engineering Corona Extra's Fabien Foret gave him a third row staTt in I lth, with the top DFX Treme Honda rid€r provinS to be Michel Fabrizio in l2$, with his teammate Pier-Francesco Chili l6th and last in Superpole. PSG- I Kawasaki Corse rider Chris Walker had several slides and one notable near fall in his Superpole lap, as he dropped from sixth fastest in pre-Superpole qualifying to the fourth row. Steve Martin, ninth fastest in retulation on his Petronas FP- l. was only l4th fastest in Superpole, unable to exploit his qualiting tires as much as many other riders on more powerlul machines. Klaffi Honda's Alex Barros blamed a fever and a relative lack of engine performance for his lSth place in Superpole, l6th in reSulation. Sebastien Gimbert was the top rider from the Yafitaha Motor France lpone team in quali- ting but missed the Superpole cut by one place, despite goinS almost a second faster than the previous lap record on race tires. Ruben Xaus was l8th fastesr, with the llhh row com- pleted by the remaining Yamaha Moror France riders. Shinichi Nakatomi and Norick Abe. f I a r& ar- t'gl # Torelond (52) leodr Correr (l l, Boyliss (2I ), ond Korl ituggeridge (3 | ). separated Fabrizio in second with Co6er in fourth, in what was an all-time classic linish. Think Capirossi on Harada or Rossi on Gibernau, with subsequent nuclear fallout. "l was sure that I could win today, but unfortunately I was not able to get good enough tire life. They were two hard races, as we expected them to be, but I am not very happy with [Hichel] Fabrizio. Racing is racinS, but he should not hit other riders when he makes a pass. l'm disappointed today, but we have a busy schedule. Tonight we go to Japan for next weekend's Suzuka 8 Hourc race, and then it is Brands Hatch which is a track I enioy riding at." Niceities or not, it brought Sunday's portion of the 41,000 weekend crowd on the edge of their seats. "lt was imponant to test in ,une with DFX at Brno," Fabrizio said. 'After five or six laps of race one I had some problems with Erip but my race pace was okay, so when I saw the others in front I thought, 'let's push to try and take them.' Something just clicked in my head that I could catch them. For my riding style, when the tires slide, it is better for me. Same thing happened in race two, but when I saw Corser and Haga in front right at the end, I rhought it would be possible to overtake them." Toseland took fifth, having difficulty Setting into and out of riSht-hand corners, but not lefts, "lt was Sood to get a podium in race one, but there was nothing I could do when Kagayama went past me," said Toseland. "lt was strange in race trvo, because later in the race I was having trouble with grip on the rights, both front and rear, The little bit higher temperature in the second race made the difference, T /,<* ,s t. - { (' 60 AUGUSI 2.2@6 CYCLE NEWS