Yamaha quietly confident of good race pace at Assen

The Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team had mixed fortunes in today's Superpole session but are confident of a good race tomorrow following a weekend of consistent lap times and good practice sessions.

Having made some adjustment alterations overnight Corser was confident of improving his provisional fifth place from yesterday. This confidence was rewarded with a move up to second place in this morning's qualifying session. A small mistake on his Superpole lap saw Corser slip to sixth position.

Haga's Superpole lap was looking good for a front row start until he almost lost the front tyre going into Mandeveen and had to take to the grass. He remained on board and re-joined the circuit but was unable to push for the remainder of the lap due to dirty tyres. Haga had been running in sixth place going into the Superpole session but had to accept the near miss putting him on the fourth row for his 137th race start with Yamaha.

Shinichi Nakatomi had less success in today's qualifying when setting changes made prior to the morning's session failed to improve the rider's position. Even though Nakatomi managed to go almost half a second faster compared to yesterday's qualifying, he dropped to 17th overall as other teams made more progress than the Team Yamaha YZF squad.

James Toseland will start in pole position with team mates Lanzi and Bayliss in second and third respectively. Biaggi rounds up the front row. Troy Corser (6th - 1'39.422 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "Superpole was disappointing, there's no denying it. I made a small mistake on the back part of the circuit and went into one corner a bit fast and ran a bit wide. But the second row is okay, I'm confident in the lap times so I just need to get a good start tomorrow. I'm happy with the race set up and I have done several long runs on the tyres in free practice so I am comfortable with those."    Noriyuki Haga (15th - 1'41.093 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I lost the front tyre at Mandeveen corner in the middle section of the lap and I had to pick the bike up to save it. Up until that point the bike had been feeling good, though we still need to make some suspension modifications - the data from the Superpole lap will help us with that. I am not thinking about the race win tomorrow right now, I just want to focus on getting our set-up completely sorted and adding to my championship points."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I am still confident despite our Superpole results because we have been in the top five in practice all weekend. It will be okay for Troy because he starts from the second row and had more opportunity to push through to the front row. It will be more difficult for Nori but we have performed miracles in races before now. We will make some more adjustments overnight and I am sure we will be ready to race tomorrow." 

Shinichi Nakatomi (17th - 1'40.824 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I am disappointed today after such a good start yesterday. We just need to continue working on our set-up tomorrow morning to see where we can make improvements. Seventeenth is not a good start but we must focus on finishing in the points now."   Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 24 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSB Assen 28/04/2007 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'38.603 2 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'39.226 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'39.256 4 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'39.320 5 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'39.411 6 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'39.422 7 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'39.648 8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'39.928 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'40.057 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'40.288 11 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'40.328 12 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'40.376 13 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'40.561 14 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'40.674 15 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'41.093

Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'39.806 1'39.245 2 Troy Corser AUS 1'39.938 1'39.386 3 James Toseland GBR 1'39.603 1'39.391 4 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'39.765 1'39.567 5 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA 1'40.445 1'39.655 6 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'39.750 1'40.111 7 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'40.201 1'39.955 8 Jakub Smrz CZE 1'40.355 1'39.956 9 Max Neukirchner GER 1'40.537 1'39.987 10 Karl Muggeridge AUS 1'40.092 1'40.280 11 Regis Laconi FRA 1'41.155 1'40.377 12 Max Biaggi ITA 1'40.804 1'40.378 13 Joshua Brookes AUS 1'40.480 1'41.172 14 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'40.844 1'40.480 15 Roberto Rolfo ITA 1'41.109 1'40.666 17 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'41.032 1'40.824

QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 28/04/2007 First and second row starts tomorrow for Yamaha in World Supersport 

Both Parkes and replacement rider Steve Martin put in excellent performances today to take third and sixth qualifying places respectively on the grid for tomorrow's race. Having both done two long runs during this morning's free practice session to test out two tyre options for tomorrow, the riders went into the second qualifying session of the weekend confident of their setting choices.

In qualifying Parkes lost his provisional second place that he achieved yesterday in the early stages of the session but sliced off over 0.4 seconds to take third qualifying slot in the last five minutes of the session - his highest qualifying position so far this season. This puts Broc in an ideal position to fight for the race win tomorrow and move up the championship standings board.

Martin put in a strong show in only his second day on the YZF-R6 and came up from 13th, where he started the day, to sixth position. The ex-World Superbike rider has not ridden in the Supersport series since 2000 but has adapted to the team and the bike with speed and ease. He is replacing fellow Australian Kevin Curtain while he recuperates from the leg injury he suffered at Valencia two weeks ago.

Just in front of Martin, Massimo Roccoli continued his positive weekend by securing fifth qualifying place this afternoon. The young Italian's confidence has been boosted by his win in the national championship at Mugello last week as well as finding a good set-up during the day.

Broc Parkes (3rd - 1'41.595 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "This is my best qualifying result so far this year. I'm happy because it means I can get on the pace from the very start tomorrow rather than having to battle through the field first. This morning we did two long runs trying two tyre options for tomorrow but we have yet to decide which to use. We will now sit down and look over the data gathered and make the choice."

Steve Martin (6th - 1'41.684 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I'm pretty happy with sixth considering this is only my second day on the bike. We have constantly made steps forward this weekend so far and if we keep doing that then tomorrow will be even better. I was going for the front row, naturally, but second row is okay. The team has made the transition for me really easy and that has helped enormously. We are in a good position for tomorrow's race."

Massimo Roccoli (5th - 1'41.672 - Yamaha Team Italia) "Last week's win has been a huge boost to my confidence. I found my race set-up very quickly and I feel my bike is very competitive. I must thank my chief engineer Vanni Lorenzini for this. Today I did my best lap time with the rear tyre that we will use tomorrow so I am very optimistic. I normally get a good start and I am confident that will be the case tomorrow."   Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 24 Weather: Sunny     2007 WSS Assen 28/04/2007 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'42.482 1'41.144 2 Sebastien Charpentier FRA 1'42.174 1'41.192 3 Broc Parkes AUS 1'42.191 1'41.595 4 Fabien Foret FRA 1'42.755 1'41.618 5 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'43.010 1'41.672 6 Steve Martin AUS 1'43.297 1'41.684 7 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'43.040 1'41.761 8 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN 1'43.167 1'41.835 9 David Salom ESP 1'43.000 1'42.043 10 Vladimir Ivanov RUS 1'43.478 1'42.322 11 Vesa Kallio FIN 1'42.773 1'42.348 12 Pere Riba ESP 1'43.578 1'42.388 13 Barry Veneman NED 1'42.875 1'42.392 14 David Checa ESP 1'43.241 1'42.433 15 Davide Giugliano ITA 1'43.369 1'42.510 22 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'43.601 1'42.948 24 Gianluca Vizziello ITA 1'44.227 1'43.233