The first batch of press releases from the World Supersport and World Superbike teams after practice on Friday:
Race 3, Assen - The Netherlands
The third race of the season brings the Harms Benjan racing team on home soil, keen to perform well after a good result in last race. Assen has been on the calendar for many years so it shouldn't hold many secrets, although the circuit layout changed last year for safety reasons.
The first practice was under cold temperatures, not idealistic but the 45 minutes session was used for finding the setup Robbin needs to get good feeling. 12th is not what everybody was hoping for, but problems where quickly found.
In the qualifying session, Robbin was quickly on the spot and had good feelings with the bike with constant laptimes on the tables. Minor setup changes and new tyres later made the perfect match for a new time attack. Robbin set a 7th fastest laptime out of 32 riders with a time of 1m39.766 which is only 0.8 from 1st place, not bad for the first day. Robbin Harms, 7th 1m39.766
This morning we tried some new things on the bike and we needed some time to make things match. In the timed session the pieces fell better together and I had confidence in the bike. It's still hard working to set the times, but I am quite happy with today's result. We will look more into the data and see where we can improve for tomorrow.
Jan Breedveld:
Home races are always special, so there is a good vibe in the garage to make it into a good weekend. We finished today in 7th place which is quite on target for Robbin. If we can find just the last things to make everything work, I am sure tomorrow will even be better then today.
Provisional pole for Marino at Assen
Florian Marino set the fastest time in this afternoon's opening qualifying practice for Sunday's third round World Supersport championship race at Assen in the Netherlands to secure his first provisional pole position.
It's the 17-year-old's debut season with the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda squad which is based just 50km from the 4.452km Assen circuit in the north of Holland.
Marino's team-mate, fellow Frenchman Fabien Foret, was eighth fastest this afternoon as he continues his recovery from debilitating injuries to his back and right hand which he sustained in crashes at Phillip Island in Australia and last time out at Donington in the UK.
However, Foret was quick to point out that it's not his injuries that are currently holding him back at Assen and that he and his crew need to work further on the setting of his Honda CBR600RR.
Florian Marino ? P1
I rode alone this afternoon to try to find my lines and my rhythm again because I felt that they were not there during free practice this morning. The feeling was quite good with the bike and when we put in some new tyres I made three fast laps immediately. We know that the soft tyre lets us go faster, so we worked a lot on the race tyre, but I didn't expect to be fastest today. We made a few changes to the bike this afternoon and used a different front fork. This makes me happy because it gives me a much better feeling compared to Donington, and we have improved the bike in other areas too. Now we will continue to work this way and try to keep this position.
Fabien Foret ? P8
I don't have a good feeling on the bike at the moment, and that is not really to do with my physical condition. For sure that's not perfect, but neither are the settings with the bike right now. I guess we'll make some change s and try to make things better for tomorrow.
Ronald ten Kate ? team manager
The beauty of working with a very young rider like Florian is that you're there when those special moments happen, like his first provisional pole position today. For him to do it at the team's home race makes it even more special. There is still quite a bit of work to do, however, because we're still not satisfied with the set up we have on the other side of the garage with Fabien. We're struggling a bit there, but it's been a while since he was riding without pain ? since before his Phillip Island crash. We will keep our heads cool and together throughout the weekend because I'm sure that with his raw speed and talent he can be fully up at the front on Sunday.
Ellison set to improve
JAMES Ellison finished the opening day at Assen in thirteenth position, just four tenths of a second off the provisional second row, and is confident of making further strides forward tomorrow ahead of the third race of the World Supersport Championship on Sunday.
His Polish Bogdanka PTR Honda teammate, Pawel Szkopek was 23rd in the first qualifying session following a crash that cut his session short.
The team's up-and-coming FIM Superstock 1000 Cup rider, Marcin Walkowiak, was 24th today.
James Ellison: "I'm losing a bit of time in the fast sections but we know what do to for tomorrow to improve that. Assen is a flowing track and it's very easy to make up time here so we're closer than the times might suggest. I'm still understanding the bike and there is more to come."
Pawel Szkopek: "I'm still learning my way around Assen. It's a very difficult track to master and you need perfect lines in the fast sections to get a good lap, but we're getting there.I should've been faster in the end but had a low-side on my fastest lap. I am OK but missed one third of the session."
Marcin Walkowiak: "I'm already faster than last year by half a second so I'm positive. We'll make some adjustments to the bike for tomorrow and I know where I can improve my riding too."
Simon Buckmaster: "James has disappointed with 13th but we know what to improve and I am sure he will be challenging much higher up the grid tomorrow.
"Unfortunately Pawel crashed in qualifying and missed a large part of the session. We'll be studying the data and looking for big improvement tomorrow.
"It is Marcin's first day with the team and he is starting to gel well. He will be pushing harder tomorrow as we want a points scoring finish in our first outing."
Smrz bubbles up after fizzing first qualifying session
Assen (Netherlands), Friday 15 April 2011 - After his superb FP1 performance this morning, Jakub Smrz (Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati) repeated the feat in first qualifying, with a time of 1 minute 36.058 seconds. This leading performance was already under the race lap record pace and only a little over one second from the track best of 1 minute 34.944. The Czech Republic charger held off a trio of fast and furious Italians, led by Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team), Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) and Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare), all four separated by just half a second.
An excellent fifth place was notched up by Kawasaki Racing Team man Tom Sykes, with early front-runners Troy Corser and Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) in sixth and seventh, after being the leaders of the entire session for some time. The two Irishmen, Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) and Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) were next up, while points leader Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) was uncharacteristically down in eleventh slot.
Noriyuki Haga (Pata Aprilia Racing) placed tenth on the dummy grid, with rookie rider Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) 12th, just behind his countryman Checa. Leon Camier, Biaggi's team-mate slipped down to 13th, with Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) in 14th place. Stand-in rider Barry Veneman (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK) was 16th, one place behind team regular Ayrton Badovini. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) went 19th in his latest comeback ride, finding a technical issue that prevented him from setting a faster time near the end of the session. One more qualifying session remains on Saturday, then Superpole takes place for the top 16 in combined qualifying.
Times: 1. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'36.058; 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'36.287; 3. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'36.494; 4. 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'36.550; 5. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'36.747; 6. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'36.876; 7. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1'36.989; 8. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1'37.024; 9. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.063; 10. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'37.106; 11. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'37.114; 12. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'37.364; 13. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'37.373; 14. Xaus R. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.424; 15. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'37.613; 16. Veneman B. (NED) BMW S1000 RR 1'37.716; etc.
World Supersport
Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Florian Marino made the most of his team's home circuit advantage as he powered to the quickest time in first qualifying. Behind the young Frenchman can be found points leader Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO), just a fraction away from the top slot. Third place went to Spain's David Salom (Kawasaki Motocard.com) followed by Sam Lowes on the Parkalgar Honda machine, putting three different types of machinery on the provisional front row. Chaz Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO) was on top slot in the early stages but then could only finish fifth, while the rest of the provisional row 2 is made up of Broc Parkes (Kawasaki Motocard.com), Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing) and Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). Gino Rea (Step Racing Honda) and Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) rounded out the early top ten, with one qualifying session remaining tomorrow.
Times: 1. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1'38.945; 2. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'39.121; 3. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'39.191; 4. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1'39.291; 5. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1'39.519; 6. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'39.569; 7. Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR 1'39.766; 8. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1'40.247; etc.
Superstock 1000
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) made a one second leap forward from his morning time to go to the top slot in Superstock 1000 qualifying. Four-tenths behind was BMW Motorrad Italia STK man Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia STK), ahead of two more Ducatis on the provisional front row, the Barni version of Danilo Petrucci and the second Althea machine of Lorenzo Baroni. Fifth went to Andrea Antonelli (Honda Team Lorini) with Dutchman Roy Ten Napel (Domburg Honda) in a popular sixth.
Times: 1. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'39.538; 2. Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1'39.915; 3. Petrucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'40.053; 4. Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'40.054; 5. Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'40.100; 6. Ten Napel R. (NED) Honda CBR1000RR; 1'40.178; 7. Massei F. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'40.965; 8. La Marra E. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'41.014; etc.
Superstock 600
Romain Lanusse (MRS Yamaha Racing France) set the provisional pole in the Superstock 600 class, the young Frenchman also recording a new best lap along the way, quicker than the one held by his compatriot Florian Marino. A full second behind Lanusse can be found Italian Bernardino Lombardi (Yamaha Martini Corse), ahead of 2010 Magny-Cours winner Jed Metcher (Yamaha MTM-RT Motorsports Team) from Australia. 15-year-old Italian Francesco Cocco (Yamaha Martini Corse) was next, ahead of Josh Elliot of the WTM Yamaha Team, while so far Joshua Day (Racedays Kawasaki) and Austin DeHaven (Trasimeno Yamaha) are finding the 600 category a tough baptism.
Times: 1. Lanusse R. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'41.580; 2. Lombardi D. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'42.653; 3. Metcher J. (AUS) Yamaha YZF R6 1'42.881; 4. Cocco F. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'43.204; 5. Elliott J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1'43.297; 6. Vd Mark M. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 1'43.306; 7. Calero Perez N. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6 1'43.308; 8. Duwelz G. (BEL) Yamaha YZF R6 1'43.341; etc.
European Junior Cup
The first edition of the European Junior Cup, an initiative that sees the participation of youngsters from 9 different nations, made its debut today at the Assen circuit. Tom Busch was quickest in the first free practice session, which gave the rookies a chance to get to know the track on their Kawasaki Ninja 250R machines, the German finishing ahead of Australian Matt Davies and South African Daniel Teixeira.
Assen ? Free Practice & Qualifying Practice 1.
Friday, 15 April 2011.
Weather conditions: Mostly cloudy.
Temperature: Air: 16 ? 20 ?C, Track: 18 ? 21 ?C
Number of riders participating: 21 from 12 teams
Fastest lap Free Practice: Jakub Smrz (Effenbert-Liberty Racing) 1:37.159 min
Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Jakub Smrz (Effenbert-Liberty Racing) 1:36.058 min
Everything goes according to plan for Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport at the third round of the FIM Superbike World Championship 2011 in Assen (NED). Works riders, Troy Corser (AUS) and Leon Haslam (GBR), finished the first qualifying session on their BMW S 1000 RRs in sixth and seventh. To save their soft tyres for tomorrow's Superpole, both riders only went out on harder tyres. For a long time Troy and Leon lay first and second. They only slipped back in the classification in the last part of the session, when other riders switched to soft tyres to improve their lap times.
Troy Corser:
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:37.583 min (P4)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice: 1:36.876 min (P6)
"This Friday was fine, and this morning we had a good setting for the bike, based on last year's settings and the test in Valencia. I was happy and comfortable with it. For this afternoon we made a few changes and went quite a bit quicker. At the beginning of the session we did a long run to get some laps on the tyre. That was quite consistent, so I am pretty happy with that as well. The setting of the bike is okay considering we only ran on hard tyres. I am happy. Of course it would be nice to be a bit further up the grid, but today it's not so important as it's only Friday. Everything is working the right way."
Leon Haslam:
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:37.606 min (P5)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:36.989 min (P7)
"It was a pretty good Friday. It's nice to be back at Assen, and I am feeling very confident on the bike. We made some progress in Valencia last week, so we were kind of making a set up with what we had there. I am feeling pretty confident. We were doing nearly the whole session with only one tyre. In Valencia we had a few new chassis parts, so setting them up for a new circuit was the priority today. Right now we need to concentrate on doing race runs. I am looking for tomorrow."
Rainer B?umel (Head of Race Operations):
"We are very happy with today, as everything is going according to plan. We have not used soft tyres so far, but saved them for tomorrow and today only ran on race tyres. I am pretty confident because, while everybody was on race tyres, which was until the last quarter of an hour, we were in front. So I think tomorrow will be even better for us."
A SATISFACTORY START FOR THE ALTHEA RACING TEAM AT THE TT CIRCUIT ASSEN
Assen (The Netherlands), Friday 15th April 2011: the Althea Racing team and rider Carlos Checa worked hard today at the TT Circuit Assen, closing the free practice session in second place and first qualifying in eleventh, after carrying out some useful tyre tests.
Conditions remained fairly stable at the Dutch track today (track temperature 22C, air temperature 16C) and in the first practice session for the Superbikes, times dropped dramatically during the 60-minute session. Carlos immediately found good pace, positioning himself in the top three where he remained for the duration of the session, while continuing to lower his lap times with each exit he made. The Althea Racing flagbearer closed the practice with the second fastest time overall, despite losing a few tenths through the second section of the track.
In the afternoon, having studied the track conditions (less than hot), Carlos and his technicians decided to lap with the harder tyre solution, while many other riders went with the softer rubber to make the fast laps. Team Althea instead concentrated on understanding tyre performance, to better understand what direction to take if conditions on Sunday are similar to today's. Satisfied with the work carried out, Carlos wil tomorrow concentrate in improving times. Today he closed in eleventh position, with a best time of 1m37.1.
Carlos Checa
"This afternoon we worked a lot with the harder tyre available to us. We saw that conditions were not warm enough for the softer solution to be useful. We had tried the soft this morning but you could see that after some laps the bike began to move a lot, telling us that tyre would be better for using in higher temperatures. We wanted to carry out this test and now we have a better idea of what to use if conditions on Sunday are as today. This morning I was up front and I think we have the pace to be in the leading group on Sunday too. Starting on the front row is quite important at Assen because it's a track where passing is pretty difficult."
Team Suzuki Press Office - April 15.
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Michel Fabrizio ended the first day of World Superbike practice and qualifying at Assen with the fourth quickest time, happy with the job he and the team had done.
Conditions were good throughout the day at the Dutch circuit, although the morning sun did give way to grey clouds in the afternoon. Fabrizio finished first practice in 16th place, but improved dramatically to fourth and in contention for Pole during the afternoon timed session aboard his GSX-R1000.
Czech rider Jakub Smrz (Ducati) dominated both sessions today, ending with a lap of 1:36.058 - three tenths of a second inside the lap record set by Jonathan Rea last year. Second quickest was reigning champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia), with Marco Melandri (Yamaha) third, less than a tenth-of-a-second ahead of Fabrizio. The top six bikes today were all different manufacturers and just one-and-a-half seconds separated the top 13 riders.
Michel Fabrizio - 4th, 1:36.550:
"I am quite happy, because I think we did a very good job today. We didn't panic after the morning session, when we were 16th, but just went about our job professionally and got our reward as a result. We didn't even use a soft tyre until the end of this afternoon's qualifying, so I am particularly happy. I have a good feeling with my bike and my lap times have been pretty consistent when I did a bit of a long run his afternoon.
"Unfortunately, I am not at 100%, because I have stomach upset. My son was ill at the start of the week and he gave me his bug. It doesn't affect me too much, but of course, I would prefer to be in the best condition possible.
"Assen is a very technical track and it's hard to shave off those last fractions of a second. I prefer the 'old' Assen, but I guess most of us do. It's very important to be on the first row of the grid here, because the first turn is a bit of a funnel and you do not want to get held up there. If you don't get through it, in the front or up with the leaders, it's very hard to get back into contention.
"This is my first time here on the Suzuki and the feeling is very different to racing a twin. This bike changes direction much more easily and is less physical. The last chicane used to be very hard - especially at the end of a long race - but my Suzuki is going through it very well and so I am really looking forward to the races."
Muresan trying too hard
PTR ROMANIA HONDA'S Robert Muresan is 27th on the provisional grid for Sunday's third round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in Holland but utterly determined to improve tomorrow after trying too hard today.
The Romanian 20-year-old is super keen to show his talent but was frustrated by trying too hard during the first day and losing time as a result. His team has identified areas where he can relax and allow the bike to work for him and he is hoping for big improvements in final qualification and the race. There are more practice and qualification sessions tomorrow before the race at 1330 CET on Sunday 17th April.
Robert: "I am disappointed in my position but the team has identified where I can go faster and make up time and I am listening to them. I have been trying too hard and now I will be thinking on how and where I can improve and I want to qualify as high as possible; my target is to score points and keep improving."
Simon Buckmaster, PTR Romania Honda Team Manager: "Robert struggled a bit today and is trying too hard. We have discussed this with him and he needs to be calmer and more focussed to go faster. We gained a lot of data and are confident that we can make a big improvement tomorrow
Sam looking good at Assen
PARKALGAR HONDA'S Sam Lowes was an impressive fourth fastest in opening qualification for the third round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen despite being held up on his last laps by traffic.
Miguel Praia on the second Parkalgar Honda worked well with his crew on the set up of his bike during both sessions and ended up 14th. There is another practice and qualifying session tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330CET on Sunday, April 17th.
Sam: "I ended up fourth but we were first for most of the session. I have not ridden the track in this format and it is taking a bit of getting used to. I am getting things dialled in though and my consistency is good, I am just 0.3s off pole and you have got to be happy with that. In the morning I will go out and do laps and then I'll be on it in the afternoon, there is a lot of time left in me. Towards the end of qualification on my last two laps I was held up but it is only Friday and there is more to come."
Miguel: "Today we were trying a couple of different things to build on my confidence after a decent result at Donington. It took some time to test everything and we continued through qualifying as well. We were not bothered by the lap time but more in improving my confidence and it worked, I feel we have made a step forward. Tomorrow we will build more and try to attack the second row."
Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager said:"Sam finished the day on the provisional front row. He is consistently in the mid-low 39s and that is competitive. There are improvements as a team and from him so we expect to be challenging for pole tomorrow.
"Miguel is carrying confidence from 11th place at Donington Park and has the potential to challenge for the second row."
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