Haga takes provisional second in first qualifying

Noriyuki Haga showed what is to come in today's practice and qualifying sessions ending in second place. He set the pace in this morning's free practice finishing it in the top slot and having led it for most of the session as well as setting the session's fastest lap five times. It didn't stop there though and in the first qualifying session of the weekend he held the top slot until Toseland knocked him down to second towards the end.

Corser did not have as much luck as his team mate today, suffering a couple of problems throughout the day. The morning practice session went smoothly with the seasoned Australian getting down to the job of finding the right set-up. It was in the afternoon session that problems struck the #11 rider but he continued to ride through them to gather data for the team, riding almost race distance. He also posted his fastest time of the day and finished the session in 12th.

Shinichi Nakatomi riding for the Team Yamaha YZF squad also had technical issues to resolve during today's two riding sessions. The Japanese rider, who will start his 33rd race this weekend, stopped at one point on the track but rejoined the session later on to secure 19th place.

Toseland heads the board going into tomorrow's final qualifying session with Haga close behind and Karl Muggeridge in third.

Troy Corser (12th - 1'47.321 - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I am not happy as you can probably understand. We didn't get enough track time and we have some braking problems with the bike that need to be solved before tomorrow. It's going to be a long night with the team checking all the data to identify and resolve the problem. All I know is that I have to go faster tomorrow and I know we can do better than twelfth."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia) "We tried to prepare for this race as best as possible. Noriyuki had a good practice and he is quite confident in his and the bike's potential this weekend. With regard to Troy, we discovered a couple of problems today which we are resolving now. We believe he is be able achieve the same good result as he did last year. We have a lot of guests here at our home round and we are hopeful of providing them with a good result."

Shinichi Nakatomi (19th - 1'48.384 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I didn't expect to be right on the pace today but I didn't expect to have technical problems either. But despite technical issues I feel we have made some slow progress today. We have already identified the issues and are working to resolve them in time for tomorrow's second qualifying session. I am positive for tomorrow."   Circuit Length: 5792 Weather: Dry     2007 WSB Monza 11/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'45.953 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'46.316 3 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'46.462 4 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'46.548 5 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'46.686 6 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'46.775 7 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'46.918 8 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'46.960 9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'46.972 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'47.125 11 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'47.205 12 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'47.321 13 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'47.351 14 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'47.384 15 Marco Borciani Ducati ITA 1'47.828 19 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'48.384

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 11/05/2007 Steady Start for Yamaha World Supersport Team

The Yamaha World Supersport Team played it cool and calm today with the focus on bedding in a new rider and finding the right race setting. They might have been playing it calm but the team still walked away with fifth and eighth qualifying places, Parkes and West respectively.

Parkes had a good morning going fourth fastest in today's free practice. He then spent the afternoon qualifying session finding the right set-up for this weekend and was in the top five for the whole 45 minute session. He ended the day in a comfortable fifth.

Newcomer to the bike, the team and the championship this weekend is Anthony West. Anthony replaces Kevin Curtain here at Monza while Kevin continues his recuperation back home in Australia. Curtain had been hoping to return to the saddle at this round but has been set back due to an infection in his leg wound. West is currently riding in the 250 GP Championship.

West had his first ride of the 2007 YZF-R6 today and also his first ride of the Monza circuit so the team was expecting it to take a little bit of time for him to get on the pace. But with seconds to go in this morning's free practice the young Australian leapt into sixth place. He proceeded to make good progress in the afternoon qualifying session claiming eighth qualifying place. In the process of finding the limit West suffered a low-side crash just before the end of the qualifying session at the infamous Parabolica corner but didn't suffer any injuries and is fired up for tomorrow.

Massimo Roccoli riding for the Yamaha Team Italia squad was not able to show his full riding potential today as he struggled with front end problems during practice and qualifying. He finished in 13th today.   Broc Parkes (5th - 1'51.557 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I missed out on using my last rear tyre because I came in too late at the end of the session, but it's not the end of the world. Today was more about finding a good set-up for the whole bike not just about setting a good time. That will come tomorrow. The bike felt good today and I am positive of getting up there in the second qualifying session tomorrow."   Anthony West (5th - 1'51.867 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Having been riding a 250 two-stroke the bike felt really strange for the first few laps and I thought it was going to take longer to get used to it than it has. The R6 feels a lot easier to ride than the last time I rode a 600cc bike in 2004. It just shows how much these bikes have developed. The biggest things for me to get used are the weight and way it moves when cornering compared to a two-stroke. It is a lot more physical but I am finding my style pretty quickly. I am very happy with eighth considering it is a strange track and bike to me. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as I know I have more to give."

Massimo Roccoli (13th - 1'52.315 - Yamaha Team Italia) "I have a very fast machine and I made some good steps in the Italian national championship last weekend but I still have some problems with the front end of the bike. We will be working on fixing it overnight as I need to start on the first or second row not in thirteenth this weekend. That is my goal for tomorrow's qualifying - first or second row."   Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSS Monza 11/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'50.711 2 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'50.791 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'50.866 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 1'51.098 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'51.557 6 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'51.837 7 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'51.848 8 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'51.867 9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'51.889 10 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 1'52.088 11 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'52.148 12 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'52.195 13 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'52.315 14 Gilles Boccolini Kawasaki ITA 1'52.393 15 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'52.412 22 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'52.960 24 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'53.148