CORSER BOOMS LOUDEST OF THE SBK BIG GUNS Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) continued the form that gave him the fastest qualifying lap on day one to top the Superpole rankings at Valencia, his first Superpole win of the 2006 season. It was his 35th career Superpole win. He was down on previous pole supremo Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) at the first split, but made up time to take the Superpole win by 0.183 seconds. Bayliss is joined on the front row by his team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) who is proving to be a resurgent force in SBK after some early season inconsistencies.
MARTIN TAKES FRONT ROW GLORY FOR FOGGY PETRONAS Working his magic on the Valencia circuit once more, Steve Martin (Foggy Petronas FP-1) secured a front row start with the fourth best Superpole time, surging his three cylinder 900cc machine ahead of a grid full of faster 1000cc machines.
SECOND ROW TURNS KAWASAKI GREEN The top three riders on the second row for Sunday’s two 23-lap Superbike races all come from the same PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse stable, and are headed up by local rider Fonsi Nieto. The Madrid-based Spaniard enthused the locals after taking and holding the fastest lap for a time and until the very last rider - Corser - set his lap, Nieto was on course for a popular front row start. His team-mate Regis Laconi went sixth fastest in the specialised Superpole contest, with English rider Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) securing seventh, completing Kawasaki’s trio of competitive entrants. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) was in podium contention at Valencia last year, and may be once more, after posting an impressive eighth fastest time in Superpole.
TOSELAND TOP HONDA AGAIN James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) pushed his way to ninth fastest, and thus became the first rider on row three of the Superbike grid. The 2004 champion was in aggressive mood, pushing hard to record his best time in any official qualifying session. Yamaha team-mates Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) and Andrew Pitt posted tenth and 11th fastest Superpole times, their R1 machines not ideally suited to the peculiarities of the Valencia circuit. Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) failed to set a Superpole lap after crashing at the end of his afternoon practice session, and suffering a head knock in the process. Kagayama had finished regular qualifying sixth fastest, and will undergo a medical revue on raceday morning, to see if he can ride in Sunday’s races. He is classified 12th overall in Superpole, due to rules which limit any rider’s drop down the order from his original regulation qualifying position.
FOURTH ROW FROLICKS Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati 999R) heads up the fourth row of the Valencia grid, having dropped down from seventh in regulation qualifying. SBK new boy Fabien Foret (Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) will start 14th on the grid, followed by Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi) and a disappointed Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR). The Brazilian rider could not match his best time from regulation qualifying, and now has a small mountain to climb to get into contention for top five places at a circuit he knows very well. The first rider to miss out on a Superpole start was German rider Max Neukirchner (Pedercini Ducati), the next (18th fastest in regulation) was Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda).
WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) continued his perfect run of qualifying performances in 2006 with his third straight pole of the season. His best time of 1’36.913, a new track record, was set on day one, as he failed to improve on it in the final official session before Sunday’s 23-lap race. Just behind Charpentier, Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) who is currently second in the points standings, took second best time, with Katsuaki Fujiwara (Megabike Honda) third fastest. Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) completes the front row, while Javier Fores (SLM Yamaha) took fifth for the home fans. Barry Veneman (Hoegee Suzuki) was the fastest GSX-R rider in qualifying, in seventh.
SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) scored the win in the opening Superstock 600 round, beating second place rider Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Xerox Junior Team) by just over five seconds. Third was taken by the Team Laglisse Yamaha of Santiago Barragan, the highest-placed local rider.
