World Superbike News

Max Neukirchner the Alstare Suzuki man, took provisional pole position ahead of second place man, Troy Bayliss.

Neukirchner and team-mate Yukio Kagayama, were lapping each other through the session and benefiting by getting in the  slipstream of one another along the fast straights and placing Kagayama in third place of the front row.  Neukirchner said to MCN “I got a good slipstream from Yukio on my fast lap and that helped a lot.  It’s important to lap with someone around here and I worked on this with Yukio this morning and afternoon.  We haven’t had to change the bike so much and now we are focusing on our choice or race tyre.  At the moment there are two options but we do not know which one will work best.”

Makoto Tamada was in fourth on the PSG-1 Kawasaki for his first ever outing at the Monza circuit but seemed comfortable from the start ahead of Jakub Smrz on the Ducati.

Karl Muggeridge was the fastest Honda rider in sixth place followed by Michel Fabrizio in seventh and in eighth was Kenan  Sofuoglu on the Ten Kate Honda ahead of Ruben Xaus in ninth.

Gregorio Lavilla finished tenth fastest with the third Alstare Ducati rider Fonsi Nieto was in eleventh and in twelfth was Noriyuki Haga on the Yamaha.

One of the usual front runner, Carlos Checa was down in fourteenth followed by Troy Corser and Ryuichi Kiyonari in sixteenth place.

Max Biaggi’s spell of bad luck seemed to continue for his home track on the Go Eleven Ducati finishing in seventeenth place  nearly one-and-a-half seconds off the pole position man.

Here are the practice times;

1 Max NEUKIRCHNER GER Team Alstare Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′45.990
2 Troy BAYLISS AUS Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098 F08 1′46.359
3 Yukio KAGAYAMA JPN Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′46.371
4 Makoto TAMADA JPN Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′46.404
5 Jakub SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing by Grifo’s Ducati 1098 RS 08 1′46.604
6 Karl MUGGERIDGE AUS D.F. Racing Honda CBR1000RR 1′46.750
7 Michel FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098 F08 1′46.814
8 Kenan SOFUOGLU TUR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Jr. Honda CBR1000RR 1′46.854
9 Ruben XAUS ESP Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 1′46.915
10 Gregorio LAVILLA ESP Ventaxia VK Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1′46.946
11 Fonsi NIETO ESP Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′46.990
12 Noriyuki HAGA JPN Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 1′47.074
13 Regis LACONI FRA Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′47.089
14 Carlos CHECA ESP Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1′47.135
15 Troy CORSER AUS Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Yamaha YZF-R1 1′47.232
16 Ryuichi KIYONARI JPN Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1′47.246
17 Max BIAGGI ITA Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati 1098 RS 08 1′47.255
18 Ayrton BADOVINI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′47.805
19 Shinichi NAKATOMI JPN YZF Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R1 1′47.815
20 Sebastien GIMBERT FRA Yamaha France Ipone GMT 94 Yamaha YZF-R1 1′48.276
21 Shuhei AOYAMA JPN Alto Evolution Honda Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1′48.496
22 Vittorio IANNUZZO ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′48.583
23 Lorenzo LANZI ITA R.G. Team Ducati 1098 RS 08 1′48.741
24 Luca MORELLI ITA Alto Evolution Honda Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1′49.036
25 L. MAURI ITA Spring Ducati ASD Ducati 999 RS 1′49.082
26 G. BUSSEI ITA Hannspree Honda Althea Honda CBR1000RR 1′49.206
27 Russel HOLLAND AUS D.F. Racing – Bertocchi Honda CBR1000RR 1′49.572
28 Loic NAPOLEONE FRA Grillini PBR Team Yamaha YZF-R1 1′51.441
29 Michael BECK USA Yamaha France Ipone GMT 94 Yamaha YZF-R1 1′51.869