Haga to start in second position at Donington Park

Noriyuki Haga will start tomorrow's round of the World Superbike Championship in second place after an impressive Superpole performance today. Troy Corser will start from eighth position after sliding off during his Superpole lap, though he had been among the top three riders all weekend.

Dry weather today allowed Haga to make the most of his wild lines and focus on getting the right race set-up. Having qualified eighth this morning Haga went on to put in a hard to beat Superpole lap time. Only Troy Bayliss, the last man out, could better the Japanese rider's time, pushing him to second position. Haga goes into tomorrow's race with already 148 World Superbike race finishes in the points under his belt, dedicated to extending that number to 150 by the end of the day.

Troy Corser's fortunes were almost reversed to Noriyuki's during the day. He battled with Bayliss for the top spot throughout the practice and qualifying sessions only to crash out on the first corner of his Superpole lap due to a severe cross-wind. He will start tomorrow's race on the second row in eighth position. This is in accordance with the rules stating that if a rider starts Superpole in the top eight, he cannot drop lower than eighth position.

Shinichi Nakatomi had difficulties in finding the correct feeling, resulting in a disappointing qualifying session today. Tomi managed to improve only one position from yesterday's qualifying despite knocking almost four seconds off his best time. He will start in 22nd position, though with 50 laps completed is hopeful of a better end result.

Troy Corser (8th - 1'31.132 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "The wind kicked me out on the first corner and I just couldn't keep it up; it just means that I'll start from the second row. I'm feeling confident about the bike; it really feels like mine now. Since we lost time yesterday due to the weather we've still got a final rear tyre option for the race to test tomorrow morning during warm up."    Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'31.084 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "We only needed to make some small changes to the bike from yesterday and it is feeling good now. I had problems yesterday with the weather because it was still wet on my line so I could not push too much. Today the dry weather has given us a better opportunity to set the bike up well."    Shinichi Nakatomi (22nd - 1'34.985 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I am happy today because the weather has been better but I have only had two hours experience around this track. I am improving but we still have not found the best set up for the race. With my results slowly getting better I am hopeful for tomorrow."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I am confident in both Troy and Noriyuki for tomorrow's races. They are both happy with the set-up; all we need to see is if the tyre can support the distance. We're checking all the data we have gathered so far to see if there is anywhere where we can improve during tomorrow's warm-up."   Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 13 Weather: Dry     2007 WSB Donington Park 31/03/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'30.370 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'31.084 3 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'31.377 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'31.399 5 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'31.504 6 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'31.686 7 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'31.689 8 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'31.999 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'32.077 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'32.178 11 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'32.185 12 Giovanni Bussei Honda ITA 1'32.744 13 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'32.750 14 Steve Martin Honda AUS 1'33.536

Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'13.052 2 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'31.132 3 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'31.479 4 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'31.655 5 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'31.695 6 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'32.182 7 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'32.188 8 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'32.199 9 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'32.360 10 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'32.724 11 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'32.847 12 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'32.857 13 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'32.877 14 Steve Martin Honda AUS 1'33.071 15 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'33.092 23 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'34.985

QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 31/03/2007 Yamaha GMT94 Team lead the way for Yamaha at Donington    With the Yamaha World Supersport Team out of this weekend's race, it fell to other Yamaha-shod teams to try and gain the best qualifying today for the manufacturer. Both Curtain and Parkes suffered broken collar bones in yesterday's free practice resulting in a premature end to the factory-supported team's weekend.

David Checa, of the Yamaha GMT Team, is the highest placed Yamaha rider in ninth place on tomorrow's grid. The younger brother of MotoGP star Carlos is contesting his second year in the World Supersport Championship, having finished overall in 11th position in 2006. His team mate, Sébastien Gimbert will start tomorrow's race in 10th position, having qualified just over half a second behind Checa.

Massimo Roccoli, the sole rider for the Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni Team, had a very disappointing qualifying after crashing both his main and spare machines. Although he was third fastest in this morning's free practice he could only manage a qualifying position of 20th in the afternoon session.

Despite having had such a successful day in yesterday's qualifying in fairly wet conditions, Arnaud Vincent starts tomorrow in 28th position. Although he improved his time by over three seconds today, the overall pace was much faster.

Pere Riba (Kawasaki) is in pole position for tomorrow with a best time of 1'34.066, with Simone Sanna (Honda) in second and Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) in third. The front row is completed by Dutchman Barry Veneman (Suzuki).  

Massimo Roccoli (20th - 1'35.944 - Yamaha Motor Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I crashed after a few minutes at the start of the practice because I touched the kerb at the last corner (Goddards). It was my mistake. I returned to the garage and took the second bike but I crashed again in the slower section of the track, where I lost the front. I don't know why that happened, but I am okay I have a good set up for the race after we made changes today to front and I am confident for tomorrow."  

In the table on the bottom of the page, the Friday Qualifying-I results are mentioned. Please find below the Qualifying II results:

1 Riba P. Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'34.066 2 Sanna S. Honda 1'34.195 3 Sofuoglu K. Honda 1'34.382 4 Veneman B. Suzuki 1'34.470 5 Tiberio Y. Honda 1'34.609 6 Alfonsi L. Honda 1'34.670 7 Foret F. Kawasaki 1'34.737 8 Fujiwara K. Honda 1'34.953 9 Checa D. Yamaha 1'34.959 10 Gimbert S. Yamaha 1'35.038 11 Harms R. Honda 1'35.165 12 Nannelli G. Ducati 1'35.220 13 Lagrive M. Honda 1'35.282 14 Giugliano D. Kawasaki 1'35.327 15 Vizziello G. Yamaha 1'35.433 16 Lascorz J. Honda 1'35.657 17 Salom D. Yamaha 1'35.679 18 Fores J. Honda 1'35.704 19 Jones C. Honda 1'35.706 20 Roccoli M. Yamaha 1'35.944 21 Boccolini G. Kawasaki 1'35.950 22 Ivanov V. Yamaha 1'36.050 23 Talmacsi G. Yamaha 1'36.148 24 Kallio V. Suzuki 1'36.172 25 Peris C. Yamaha 1'36.316 26 Velini A. Yamaha 1'36.701 27 Leblanc G. Honda 1'36.862 28 Vincent A. Yamaha 1'37.128 29 Lauslehto T. Honda 1'37.249 30 Günther J. Honda 1'37.336 31 Praia M. Honda 1'37.442 32 Polzer Y. Ducati 1'38.358 33 Milovanovic N. Honda 1'38.392 34 Forner D. Yamaha 1'38.882

Circuit Length: 4023 Temp: 12 Weather: Dry     2007 WSS Donington Park 31/03/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'40.239 2 Davide Giugliano Kawasaki ITA 1'41.208 3 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'41.621 4 Arnaud Vincent Yamaha FRA 1'41.639 5 Craig Jones Honda GBR 1'42.465 6 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'42.539 7 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'42.556 8 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 1'42.967 9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'42.989 10 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'43.004 11 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 1'43.040 12 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'43.171 13 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'43.916 14 Chris Peris Yamaha CAN 1'44.016 15 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'44.114