Yamaha in provisional second and fifth after a good day at Assen

Yamaha have had a good day in the first qualifying session today at the fifth round of the World Superbike Championship in Assen. In sunny, warm and dry weather Haga took provisional second qualifying place and Corser finished in fifth with both riders promising more progress tomorrow.

Noriyuki Haga started the afternoon qualifying session in fourth place but went on to top the board in front of Xaus and Toseland with only five minutes to go. Unfortunately, in the dying minutes of the session Toseland came back to take the top slot, pushing Haga down to second.

Troy Corser started the afternoon qualifying session in second where he remained for most of the session until Toseland knocked him down into third. Muggeridge and Bayliss also posted faster times putting him in a comfortable fifth slot for tomorrow's second qualifying.

Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi also had a good day, much preferring Assen's dry conditions to the wet weather experienced at Valencia two weeks ago. Concentrating on getting a good set-up, the young Japanese rider put in 20 laps, doing the second fastest speed of over 285kph and finishing the day in 14th.

Toseland currently tops the provisional qualifying grid at his team's home track with Haga only 0.147 seconds behind in second and Xaus in third.

Haga currently holds the Superpole record at Assen with a 1'39.009 which he claimed last year. He will be looking to equal this in tomorrow's qualifying and Superpole sessions, especially as this weekend will be his 137th race start with Yamaha. This will equal Fabrizio Pirovano's record with Yamaha.    Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'39.750 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I used a soft tyre for this afternoon's session but I know I won't be able to use it for the race because it will be too warm for it to last the race distance. I have already made a tyre choice for tomorrow, though, and we will make some more minor modifications tomorrow to try and get pole position. Second place is okay today but I want to go for pole position tomorrow."    Troy Corser (5th - 1'39.938 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Today has been good for my first day on this bike at this track. We now have a good idea of the direction we need to go in tomorrow. This afternoon we made some changes and found some positive results as well as some negative ones. I also rode both bikes to get as much data as possible, but we didn't have enough time to really try out all the changes we made.

Tomorrow will be about finding a good race setting and to continue testing the changes we have made to the gearbox and suspension. I'm feeling good about how it's going, though. We're really close."  

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I am quite confident after today's practice and qualifying sessions. We've had a problem free start to the weekend and tomorrow we will focus on deciding which tyres to use for the race. We already have an idea which we will confirm tomorrow."    Shinichi Nakatomi - 14th - 1'41.032 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I have had a good day today and so far this weekend everything feels much better than at Valencia. I am very positive for this weekend's result and I am working hard on finding a good set-up. I am certain that tomorrow we will find it."   Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSB Assen 27/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'39.603 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'39.750 3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'39.765 4 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'39.806 5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'39.938 6 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'40.092 7 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'40.201 8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'40.355 9 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'40.445 10 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'40.480 11 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'40.537 12 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'40.804 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'40.844 14 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'41.032 15 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'41.109

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 27/04/2007 Parkes takes second in day one qualifying at Assen  

Parkes showed that he is back on the pace today by taking second place in qualifying following his accident at Donington only a month ago when he broke his right collar bone. And with Steve Martin settling into Curtain's seat while he recovers from the leg injuries he sustained at Valencia, the team is confident of good results this weekend.

Parkes started the morning's free practice session focusing on ensuring he was happy with the set-up and trying out several tyre options for the race. In the qualifying session Parkes proceeded to take second place on a flying lap before being knocked down to fourth by Sofuoglu and Charpentier. The session was then red flagged but as soon as it was re-started Parkes went out and re-took second place where he ended up only 0.017 seconds off pole position man Charpentier. Time ran out before the Australian could push any further for first place.

Today was Steve Martin's first opportunity to ride the R6 since stepping into Curtain's boots. Martin started the morning's free practice session using Parkes settings which he adapted to suit his riding style. Martin hasn't ridden in the supersport class since 2000 but that didn't stop the highly experienced World Superbike rider taking to the R6 within the first few laps.

Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli comes to Assen confident after a win in the national Italian championship last weekend at Mugello. His new-found confidence showed today in both sessions with him finishing in eighth.    Broc Parkes (2nd - 1'42.191 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Today's sessions felt good. We tried two bikes which were set-up quite differently and have found a good direction for this weekend. Tomorrow we will concentrate on riding race distance to see if we can find the right tyre before the second qualifying session in the afternoon. But at the moment everything is going the right way for a good result this weekend. My collar bone is still sore and I'm finding it a bit hard to change direction in some of the fast-change corners but it certainly feels a lot better than it did at Valencia."    Steve Martin (13th - 1'43.297 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I'm happy with what I've achieved today considering I have only been on the bike for less than two hours. The bike is great to ride and I feel I am making solid progress. I didn't manage to get a good run on the tyres today due to the oil flag during the session, but I am confident we will go faster tomorrow. I just need to get to know the bike more and understand what it can and can't do."  

Massimo Roccoli (8th - 1'43.010 - Yamaha Team Italia) "Last weekend's win for me was a great boost to my confidence and the bike is very fast here. Those two things combined make me very happy and confident this weekend. It is thanks to my race engineer that the bike is so good. I am happy with my position and will look to improve on it tomorrow."   Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSS Assen 27/04/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'42.174 2 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'42.191 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'42.482 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 1'42.755 5 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 1'42.773 6 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'42.875 7 David Salom Yamaha ESP 1'43.000 8 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'43.010 9 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 1'43.040 10 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'43.167 11 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'43.241 12 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'43.245 13 Steve Martin Yamaha AUS 1'43.297 14 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 1'43.369 15 Craig Jones Honda GBR 1'43.414 19 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'43.601 25 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'44.227