Haga and Pitt in fine form at Brands

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Noriyuki Haga and Andrew Pitt continued their splendid run of form today, blasting their Yamaha YZF-R1s to provisional front row starts at Brands Hatch today.

Both riders featured at the top of the timesheets throughout the two one-hour practice sessions as they worked on finding the ideal settings for Sunday's two 25-lap races around the challenging British circuit.

Haga's R1 was the fastest bike through the speed trap, recording almost 276kph up the Hawthorn Hill straight as the Japanese star powered to a 1:26.563 lap time - good enough to give him third place on the provisional grid.

Team-mate Andrew Pitt also concentrated on his race settings but made a late charge to take fourth place at the chequered flag. The Australian ran strongly throughout the sessions and was able to make small refinements to allow his YZF-R1 to cope with the bumpy and demanding circuit. His best lap of 1:26.702 was good enough for fourth in the overnight standings.

British wild-card Tommy Hill proved his pole position in Silverstone was no fluke. The 21-year-old, who won the British R6 Cup in 2003, featured in the top four for much of the session on the Virgin Mobile Yamaha YZF-R1 with which he usually contests the British superbike championship. Hill ended the day ahead of numerous of the championship stars in eighth. Sebastien Gimbert was the fastest of the Yamaha Motor France trio in 15th, just two places ahead of team-mate Norick Abe. Shinichi Nakatomi had a tough day on his first visit to the demanding British circuit. The Japanese rookie only completed a handful of laps after crashing 15 minutes into the afternoon qualifying session. The 27-year-old was uninjured in the crash and will compete in tomorrow's final qualifying session.

Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) topped the times with a 1:26.272 lap. World champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) was second. Second qualifying takes place tomorrow morning, with the final grid positions decided in the afternoon superpole session for the top 16 riders after the morning session.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "As always we are working for the race and today we were able to complete a lot of laps and understand how the bike works on worn tyres. The bike is working very well from the very first session and I was able to do two race simulations. There are a few small things for us to try out tomorrow and hopefully these will help us to make some slight improvements for the race."

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "No real troubles today. The bike's working pretty good already but there are still some more things for us to try and improve tomorrow. I had a slight problem with the front end running wide on the entry to the corners today, but we were quickly able to solve that. We've now got to try and make the bike ride better over the bumps and I have to try and go quicker through the third sector, as I am losing some time there. Most of today was spent trying out tyres and we still have some work to do in deciding what to use in the race. Nothing is standing out as the obvious choice for the race, as all the options we have available seem to work well."

Tommy Hill (Virgin Mobile Yamaha) "We came here with what we thought was a good package and I'm pleased with how things went today. We're maybe a little bit down on power (compared to the Yamaha Motor Italia machines) but we're able to make a bit up through the corners. We're also using development Pirelli tyres in the British championship, so we've got a few more adjustments to make to get the bike work better on these tyres. It's a great experience riding with these guys and I'm sure we can find that little bit extra tomorrow."

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "I have raced here once before but I was so bad in the first session I think I forgot which way the track went! After the session my mechanic looked at the computer and we were able to find some big improvements. It felt much better in the afternoon and I think now we have a good starting point and I will be able to make a much better lap time tomorrow."

Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "This is a new track for me so I could have done without crashing. I am ok but the bike was very badly damaged in the crash. We will be ready for tomorrow and we should be able to find some improvements."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Other than the gearbox settings, the bikes are virtually the same as at Brno and are working very well here as well. Both riders are happy and are only requesting a few small changes. That has allowed us to focus on the race and both Noriyuki and Andrew have been very impressive in the way they have worked to find that little bit extra that will hopefully help them late in the race on Sunday."

Circuit Length: 4197 Temp: 22 Weather: Sunny     2006 WSB Brands Hatch 04/08/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'26.272 2 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'26.494 3 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'26.563 4 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'26.702 5 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'26.741 6 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'26.844 7 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'26.955 8 Tommy Hill Yamaha GBR 1'26.987 9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'27.165 10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'27.285 11 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'27.308 12 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'27.372 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'27.468 14 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'27.510 15 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'27.690 17 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 1'27.940 26 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'29.033

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 04/08/2006 Curtain fast in first practice   Kevin Curtain   

Kevin Curtain claimed a provisional front row start for Sunday's eighth round of the Supersport World Championship at Brands Hatch in England.

The Yamaha Motor Germany rider's best lap of 1:28.674 was just four-hundreds of a second slower than provisional pole sitter Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda), with championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) and wild-card Cal Crutchlow (Honda) completing the provisional front row.

Broc Parkes was the second YZF-R6 rider, ending the day in fifth position but just three tenths slower than Sofuoglu in a close session that was spiced up by the inclusion of some fast wild-card riders from the British championship.

Italians Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello ended the day seventh and 12th place respectively on their Yamaha Team Italia YZF-R6s, although there was disappointment for David Checa and the Yamaha GMT94 squad. The Spaniard crashed heavily in the opening stages of the qualifying session and was taken to the medical center but was passed fit to take part tomorrow.

Circuit Length: 4197 Temp: 22 Weather: Sunny     2006 WSS Brands Hatch 04/08/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'28.634 2 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 1'28.674 3 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'28.739 4 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 1'28.792 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'28.948 6 Leon Camier Honda GBR 1'29.083 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'29.183 8 Stephane Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1'29.302 9 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 1'29.427 10 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1'29.546 11 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'29.666 12 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'29.732 13 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 1'29.778 14 Mauro Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1'29.863 15 Maxime Berger Kawasaki FRA 1'29.899 27 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'31.509