WSB/ WSS Valencia QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 14/04/2007

The challenging weather that started on Friday continued throughout today, making riding conditions very difficult and slippery. A damp qualifying session this morning was followed by a wet Superpole, in which the top 16 riders go out at the same time for a maximum of 12 laps during a 50 minute session.

Corser felt happier with engine changes that had been made overnight following on from yesterday's initial qualifying session. These changes included trying some of the settings that had been used at Donington two weeks previously. Haga focused on continuing to find the right wet set-up. Overall, the wet conditions meant that everyone's lap times were slower, with no one improving on their best times from yesterday.

Track conditions did not improve at all for Superpole this afternoon, with sunshine but no dry line anywhere on the circuit. Corser had a good start to the session moving up to third position from yesterday's provisional start position of sixth. With such wet conditions, he then waited to see the progress of other riders.

Honda rider Joshua Brookes took third position on a flying lap, forcing Corser to try and reclaim it. Unfortunately, conditions were too slippery and he was unable to succeed and so will start from fourth tomorrow. Haga was one of the many to struggle with grip throughout the 50 minute session and moved down to ninth from fourth. He managed a flying lap with less than three minutes to go to take seventh place Kagayama.

Team Yamaha YZF rider, Nakatomi, continued to try and improve with his confidence in the wet weather today. Having achieved a best qualifying position of 18th in this yesterday's qualifying, he then spent today's track time doing lots of laps to build up his confidence. The team is also trying various new engine and chassis parts this weekend, so focused on putting in as much track time as possible to maximize the best opportunity from these new parts.

Tomorrow's world superbike races will start with Bayliss (Ducati) in pole position after an impressive day's riding. Local rider Ruben Xaus (Ducati) will start in second and Joshua Brookes (Honda) lies in third.

Troy Corser (4th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "This morning we went back to the Donington set-up and that seemed to help. The engine and bike are working well and we have made some changes to the rear suspension set-up during the day. Unfortunately, none of these changes have given us the extra grip that they normally would, and that we need. It's partly the geometry of the bike but we still have more work to do.

My objective for tomorrow is to stay upright, especially if the track is as slippery as it was today."    Noriyuki Haga (7th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today I tried some rain settings but I have not yet found the best set-up for this possibility - we still need to work on the best rear tyre option as I can find good grip but no tyre life, or good tyre life but no grip. I am happy with a second row qualifying position and that I didn't crash today in the wet! Today's conditions were unbelievable with no grip anywhere. Tomorrow I will push hard for a podium finish at the very least, whatever the weather."    Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - Team Yamaha YZF) "I really don't like the rain after a nasty incident I had last year, when I lost a lot of confidence. But, we had some success today finding a good set-up for the race. Tomorrow, I am hoping for dry weather though, and I want to finish in the points at the very least." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "This is our first time in the rain here at Valencia with the new R1, so we have been concentrating on preparing the bike as good as possible. Unfortunately, we haven't found the best set-up yet so tonight we will check all the data and see what we can improve for tomorrow.

I am very pleased with the front row position for Troy and the second row is fine for Nori, who has a history of making good starts."   Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 24 Weather: Changeable     2007 WSB Valencia 14/04/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'51.982 2 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'52.085 3 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'52.199 4 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'52.733 5 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'52.801 6 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'52.942 7 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'52.961 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'53.634 9 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'53.750 10 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'54.108 11 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'54.972 12 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'55.196 13 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'55.965 14 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'56.275 15 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'56.332

Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'34.599 1'53.576 2 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'35.023 9999'0.000 3 James Toseland GBR 1'35.147 1'53.408 4 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'35.440 1'52.866 5 Max Biaggi ITA 1'35.453 1'55.306 6 Troy Corser AUS 1'35.483 1'52.425 7 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA 1'35.709 1'53.804 8 Max Neukirchner GER 1'35.767 1'53.334 9 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'35.804 1'55.209 10 Karl Muggeridge AUS 1'35.814 1'53.786 11 Joshua Brookes AUS 1'35.856 1'51.638 12 Yukio Kagayama JPN 1'36.012 1'55.330 13 Giovanni Bussei ITA 1'36.016 1'55.000 14 Carmelo Morales ESP 1'36.032 9999'0.000 15 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'36.094 1'54.298 16 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'36.755 1'58.322

QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 14/04/2007 Curtain confirms his third place in qualifying    Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes played it sensible today as wet weather made the track slippery and riding conditions difficult. As a result of the rain, today's lap times were slower than during the first qualifying session yesterday and therefore there were no changes from yesterday's provisional qualifying positions. Kevin will start tomorrow in third place on the grid, while Broc will start from 11th.

Data gathered during testing last month allowed both riders to be cautious and not push too much today. Not wanting to risk a crash on top of his collar bone injury, Curtain sat out this morning's free practice session. With conditions no better in the afternoon, he didn't take part in the weekend's second qualifying session either. Under championship regulations he is entitled to do this as he had already qualified within 107% of the fastest time set this weekend. And, with lap times almost 30 seconds slower than Friday, there was little risk of him being knocked off third spot.

With high chances of rain tomorrow, Parkes was keen to get a wet set-up though, so he participated in both practice and qualifying today. Athough knowing he would not be able to improve his best time from yesterday due to the weather conditions, he was keen to try and find a good set-up and get some confidence in the bike and track conditions.

Massimo Roccoli was unable to improve his qualifying position of 16th today, due to the worsening weather conditions. The Yamaha Italia rider made the most of the two sessions, though, to concentrate on improving his mental state and finding the best wet set-up.

With no change to the gird from yesterday's qualifying positions, Sofuoglu (Honda) will start in pole position and Japanese rider Fujiwara (Honda) will start in second. Curtain maintains his third start position for the race.    Kevin Curtain (3rd - 1'37.885 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Sitting out of today's sessions was hard but it was the right thing for me to do. It has given me an extra day's recovery - and on such a short term every day counts. A broken collar bone isn't a simple injury - any kind of crash at this stage could cause a lot of problems and it just wasn't worth the risk today, especially as I got such a good qualifying position yesterday.

If it rains tomorrow I will have to go out in the morning though, as I need to check my rain set-up. Tomorrow is when we will take more risks than so far this weekend - race day is what counts."    Broc Parkes (11th - 1'38.681 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "It was like riding on ice out there and far too tough for us to find a good wet set-up. It was really difficult and risky with lots of people crashing - I'm just glad I wasn't one of them. I still haven't found the right race set-up though - what with the rain and my collar bone - so I will just have to go out tomorrow morning to find it out before the race."  

Massimo Roccoli (16th - 1'39.016 - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "The fourth row is not a good position to start in - we tried to improve on this today but it was not possible with the weather conditions. I was very fast here at the Pirelli tyre test in March so I am hoping to be able to regain some of the mental and technical condition I had then for tomorrow's race. I just hope it is dry tomorrow!"   Circuit Length: 4005 Temp: 16 Weather: Wet     2007 WSS Valencia 14/04/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'37.521 2'5.339 2 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN 1'37.729 2'6.995 3 Kevin Curtain AUS 1'37.885 n/a 4 Pere Riba ESP 1'38.095 2'2.363 5 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'38.478 2'2.845 6 Fabien Foret FRA 1'38.524 2'11.158 7 Barry Veneman NED 1'38.532 2'5.999 8 Gianluca Nannelli ITA 1'38.564 2'4.356 9 Robbin Harms DNK 1'38.568 n/a 10 Joan Lascorz ESP 1'38.649 2'2.138 11 Broc Parkes AUS 1'38.681 2'8.183 12 Javier Fores ESP 1'38.734 2'4.583 13 Lorenzo Alfonsi ITA 1'38.753 2'6.852 14 Davide Giugliano ITA 1'38.915 2'0.659 15 David Salom ESP 1'39.008 n/a 16 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'39.016 2'6.185 19 Gianluca Vizziello ITA 1'39.243 2'3.504 21 David Checa ESP 1'39.283 2'4.693 23 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'39.575 n/a