WSB – Pitt fifth on superpole debut

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WSB – Pitt fifth on superpole debut

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt will start tomorrow’s Yamaha-sponsored Australian round of the Superbike World Championship from fifth place after an impressive performance in his first ever one-lap superpole run.

The local hero had been consistently in the top five all weekend but had to survive a scare during the pre-superpole practice session. The Australian was heading the time sheets when he highsided on the exit of turn 10 and was struck by his machine. Pitt was thankfully uninjured in the incident and was able to resume the session on his second machine.

Pitt went into the superpole session as the third fastest rider from regular qualifying, but despite setting his fastest time of the weekend, a 1’33.461, on his flying lap the Australian found himself slipping back to fifth despite setting his fastest lap of the weekend.

Norick Abe was another Yamaha rider who impressed in his first outing in the one-lap shootout. The Japanese rider gained four places on his position after regular qualifying and will start the race from 12th place and the third row of the grid.

Pitt’s team-mate Noriyuki Haga was 19th fastest in qualifying, and did make the cut for the top-16 superpole shootout after failing to find a good suspension setting during the morning qualifying session. However Haga was able to set the 14th fastest time in the untimed afternoon practice session, giving hope of an improved performance in tomorrow’s races. Lining up behind Haga in 20th and 21st places respectively are European superstock champion Lorenzo Alfonsi, making his world superbike debut with the DFX Yamaha team, and Yamaha Motor France’s Sebastien Gimbert, although all three riders are likely to move up one place as 17th qualifier Pierfrancesco Chili (Honda) will not start after breaking his collarbone.

Championship leader Yuki Kagayama (Suzuki) will start tomorrow’s races from pole position after setting a superpole time of 1’33.241, narrowly pushing out local ace Steve Martin (Petronas) and young German talent Max Neukirchner (Honda). Another Australian, Troy Corser (Suzuki), rounds out the front row in fourth.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
“I’d have liked to have been on the front row but I did my best lap on the superpole so I feel that I did my best. We’ve got a good set-up and I have been up the front all weekend on race tyres, so this looks good for the race. I expect a good race tomorrow with many riders fighting for the lead. I am happy with the way my bike is, so hopefully I will be one of them!”

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
“I have been feeling sick all weekend so I am quite happy with my superpole performance – it was good fun! I have a good set up and was able to do a lot of consistent lap times, so I am looking forward to the races tomorrow.”

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
“It’s been a difficult day and I do not really know why I was riding so slowly. We have had big chatter problems here all weekend. We tried so many changes and we made some improvements in the last session, so we will need to see how it goes tomorrow.”

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)
“This is my first time here with the R1 and I made a small mistake with my suspension settings today. That is why I couldn’t go fast enough to get into superpole but we made some changes in the free practice session so I am sure that we will have a much better performance in the races tomorrow.”

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia) “We are feeling very positive about tomorrow’s races. Andrew is running very strongly on race tyres and thankfully also he was uninjured in the crash. It was also good that he but in his best laps after the crash because, although a rider will always deny it, they usually lose some feeling in these events. With Nori I believe he can do a good job for us. He is always better on race day than on qualifying and I remember him, I think it was at Brands Hatch in 2000, starting in 16th and being second at the first corner, so we know what he is capable of doing.”

Session 2 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole
1 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1′ 33.787 1′ 34.762 1′ 33.241
2 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1′ 34.499 1′ 33.836 1′ 33.301
3 M. Neukirchner Honda GER 1′ 36.788 1′ 33.631 1′ 33.375
4 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1′ 33.191 1′ 34.793 1′ 33.398
5 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1′ 34.094 1′ 33.677 1′ 33.461
6 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1′ 34.364 N/A 1′ 33.557
7 G. McCoy Petronas AUS 1′ 34.491 1′ 34.304 1′ 33.676
8 R. Laconi Ducati FRA 1′ 34.084 1′ 34.291 1′ 33.837
9 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS 1′ 34.405 1′ 33.781 1′ 34.053
10 J. Toseland Ducati GBR 1′ 35.344 1′ 34.428 1′ 34.068
11 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA 1′ 35.381 1′ 34.437 1′ 34.503
12 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1′ 34.960 1′ 34.725 1′ 34.742
13 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1′ 35.282 1′ 34.678 1′ 34.803
14 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1′ 36.556 1′ 34.396 1′ 34.939
15 J. Cardoso Yamaha ESP 1′ 35.237 1′ 34.401 1′ 35.003
16 M. Sanchini Kawasaki ITA 1′ 34.676 N/A 1′ 35.132
19 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1′ 35.715 1′ 34.927

LOVE IS GIVING SOMEONE THE ABILITY TO DESTROY YOU, THEN TRUSTING THEM NOT TO.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, Vodka in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming…….WOO HOO, what a ride!

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