Corser just misses Superpole win

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Press Release Issued By Yamaha Racing (July 19, 2008)

Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) missed out on his 43rd career Superpole win by a mere 0.106 seconds at the 5.403km Brno circuit today, with only his fellow Australian Troy Bayliss able to beat his time.

The fight for the new absolute track record was played out in warm and dry conditions and on qualifying tyres. Corser set a 1'58.451 to take what looked like an unbeatable time, only for Bayliss to fight back.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) worked hard in session with the team but could not find a set-up that allowed his proven talents at Brno to shine and he now starts the races on Sunday from the third row of the grid, 12th overall.

David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) came agonisingly close to joining the top 16 qualifiers in Superpole, but now starts the race from the 17th grid slot. Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) was only 0.004 seconds from Checa, in a positive final qualifying session. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) was 24th after losing some track time in practice today.

Troy Corser (2nd - 1'58.451 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

"It was a shame not to win Superpole when we all put so much effort in but the main thing is that we have a front row start for the races. We have a good set-up for raceday and I think we can make our tyres go race distance at a good pace. We did a good race run this afternoon so it's all feeling very positive. We have made real improvements in the bike since our last test."

Noriyuki Haga (12th - 1'59.571 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

"We have had a bit of a problem finding a good set up in some areas, but we have improved there, only to find a few smaller problems in another area. We have improved the feeling and tomorrow we can try another setting in a good direction, and we will see how things are after warm-up. We have already decided on a tyre for the race tomorrow, and I think we can find a better race pace than we can do in one single lap of qualifying, which is really important."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

"Everything is working well for Troy and he is happy about the bike and tyres. He made a great Superpole lap, he was so close to adding to his record total. Tomorrow we will try something different on Nori's side. He has a good record here, so tomorrow I am sure we can find something better for him in warm-up anyway. In the end Nori is a racer on Sunday no matter what set-up he has so I am sure he can do well.

Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - 2:00.232 - Team YZF Yamaha)

"We changed the machine set up and made some progress but other teams also improved their times. The feeling ended up not so bad even if the grid position was not so good. The times are very close and after final qualifying we made good work to prepare for the race."

Parkes takes fifth pole position in a row

Broc Parkes consistently brilliant performances in qualifying in the 2008 season continued at the Brno meeting when he took a remarkable fifth consecutive pole position. His pre-race successes at Assen, Monza, Nürburgring and Misano grew to five after Parkes scored a 2'03.203 second lap towards the end of a busy afternoon session.

Parkes' lap was a new absolute track best, on a circuit which had been resurfaced earlier in the season.

The expected rains stayed away during the second day of track action, allowing Parkes to lead Barry Veneman, Josh Brookes and Andrew Pitt on the front row of the grid.

Fabien Foret is recovering from a day one crash that saw him crack his C6 and C7 vertebrae, and suffer a concussion. Latest medical reports indicate that Foret will be out of action for two months, but should make a full recovery.

Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) slipped one place to 18th on the grid on day two of qualifying and David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) went 16th.

Broc Parkes (1st - 2'03.203 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)

"It's a great feeling to have had five pole position rides in a row and I'm happy with the final results of all the work we did in qualifying. Our bike is working really well on fresh rubber, as usual. I think that the rate of wear from the tyres will be the same for everyone in the race tomorrow, and the pace will be pretty even between the top guys. Maybe it will be a case of managing the tyres in the last few laps. But on the new track surface, we'll have to wait and see."

Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team)

"Broc is simply brilliant at getting pole positions and five in a row is really something special. What can we say, qualifying fastest is what he is really good at right now and the desire to succeed is also in his guts at the moment. He kept his patience to wait until we got to know all the information we needed for the race, even though another rider went faster near the end. Only then did Broc go out and take pole. That is the best thing about his practice performances, his willingness to work for a good race set-up."

Massimo Roccoli (18th - 2'04.891 seconds - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni)

"Today wasn't a good day because although the bike was very good, the engine has had another step of evolution and was very competitive, I didn't ride as aggressively as I needed to. Our tyre strategy was excellent but I think it is simply a problem of my confidence to go as fast as I know I can."

David Salom: (16th - 2'04.779 seconds - Yamaha Spain)

"I've been riding very comfortably and the faster I went the more comfortable I felt. My best lap time is very good, faster than last year's pole position. I've improved my best time from last year by three seconds and the bike, team and me have all improved too."

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