With British local Neil Hodgson fastest after regular qualifying, Honda’s Colin Edwards came through to post the fastest lap during SuperPole, and take pole for tomorrow’s races at Donington Park. The front row of the grid will be filled out by Suzuki’s Frankie Chili, Kawasaki’s Akira Yanagawa, and Ducati’s Hodgson.
Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga, who failed an FIM drug test recently, is apparently being allowed to ride (he qualified seventh), pending results to a follow-up test. According to the results of the FIM test of Haga’s urine sample taken at the Kyalami, South Africa round, an illegal concentration of ephedrine was found. Reports we have seen indicate that Yamaha and Haga are cooperating fully with the FIM, and that the offending substance may have been innocently taken by Haga in dietary supplements — not for purporse of obtaining an illegal advantage.
Haga is the current points’ leader after the first three rounds of the series.
Honda’s Aaron Slight, whose recovery from brain surgery was discussed in yesterday’s article, was 13th quickest after both regular qualifying and SuperPole. Slight was just 1.3 seconds slower than the fastest qualifier — indicating he isn’t all that rusty after his layoff. To indicate how impressive Slight’s performance was, he qualified ahead of both of the Ducati factory riders — Ben Bostrom and Luca Cadalora.
Qualifying Results – Fastest Lap of Two Sessions (Top 10)
1. Hodgson (#48 - DUCATI) 1'32.824 2. Haga (#41 - YAMAHA) 1'33.097 3. Edwards (#2 - HONDA) 1'33.133 4. Corser (#3 - APRILIA) 1'33.205 5. Chili (#7 - SUZUKI) 1'33.243 6. Walker (#49 - SUZUKI) 1'33.272 7. Haydon (#45 - DUCATI) 1'33.304 8. Reynolds (#47 - DUCATI) 1'33.320 9. Hislop (#43 - YAMAHA) 1'33.547 10. Borja (#19 - DUCATI) 1'33.714
SuperPole Results – Best Lap (Top 10)
1. Edwards (#2 - HONDA) 1'32.599 2. Chili (#7 - SUZUKI) 1'33.021 3. Yanagawa (#4 - KAWASAKI) 1'33.275 4. Hodgson (#48 - DUCATI) 1'33.315 5. Walker (#49 - SUZUKI) 1'33.549 6. Reynolds (#47 - DUCATI) 1'33.631 7. Haga (#41 - YAMAHA) 1'33.644 8. Haydon (#45 - DUCATI) 1'33.651 9. Corser (#3 - APRILIA) 1'33.777 10. Borja (#19 - DUCATI) 1'33.868
