SUPERPOLE SUPREMACY FOR VERMEULEN AT FINAL ROUND
In unseasonably warm conditions at Magny-Cours championship runner-up Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) ripped the previous best record lap of the 4.411km circuit to shreds as he scored his third pole position of the season. His lap of 1’39.836 was not just the first one recorded under the 1’40 barrier, but it was also over 0.6 seconds faster than the previous track best, a 1’40.450, set by Lorenzo Lanzi (SC Caracchi Ducati) in this morning’s final qualifying session. Vermeulen’s new best time was almost a second faster than the previous 2003 record of Neil Hodgson (Ducati), set in the days before Pirelli control tyres became the norm in SBK.


COSMOPOLITAN FRONT ROW FOR MAGNY-COURS RACES ON SUNDAY Lanzi secured second fastest Superpole lap, and thus second on the grid, by beating his own previous best mark with a 1’40.349. He narrowly edged out the serial 2005 race winner, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) and the second Winston Ten Kate Honda of Karl Muggeridge.

SECOND ROW CLOSELY PACKED IN LAP TIMES James Toseland (Ducati Xerox) overcame a poor previous qualifying session to record fifth quickest time in Superpole. The top five riders all improved on their previous best times from regulation. Toseland, who turned 25 in the run up to the Magny-Cours weekend, edged out the talented German rider Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda) into sixth. The second row was completed by the first Suzuki rider on the sheets, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki), and Yamaha Motor Italia runner Andrew Pitt.

CORSER FOURTH ROW AFTER PITBOX MISHAP Newly crowned champion Troy Corser (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) was well placed at the start of Superpole, running second fastest in regulation qualifying, just behind Lanzi. His Superpole lap was soon in trouble, as he reached the second split, 1.5 seconds down on Vermeulen’s time, and with his rear tyre sliding and smoking. An incorrectly inflated rear tyre was later traced to be the problem, dropping him to the very last spot on the fourth row, some 2.823 seconds from pole.

THIRD ROW PACKED WITH TALENT AND VARIETY The first Kawasaki on the grid is the PSG-1 machine of Chris Walker, the effusive Brit in ninth after his usual committed display of riding. 2004 season runner-up Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) went top ten, after finishing regulation qualifying in only 16th place. His injured right elbow has handicapped his progress throughout the qualifying practices, as he tried to build strength back up after his Assen injury.
Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) was an assured 11th, with Kawasaki privateer Giovanni Bussei (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 12th.

ROW FOUR FEATURES SOME BIG NAMES Davide Checa (Yamaha GMT 94) headed up the Magny-Cours fourth row from Petronas rider Steve Martin, but behind two major SBK forces were languishing on the last two Superpole qualifying places. Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda) was 15th fastest, over two seconds from Vermeulen’s Honda, while Corser’s incorrectly-inflated rear tyre caused him to finish last in the Superpole competition, dropping 15 places from his regulation qualifying position.

WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda) improved on his opening day best time to score his first career pole position in World Supersport, thanks to a time of 1’43.835. The Honda rider headed up Yamaha Motor Germany rider Kevin Curtain, with Fabrizio’s team-mate Fabien Foret third. The front row is completed by the second Yamaha Motor Germany machine, ridden by Broc Parkes.
Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda) defied the pain of his injured hand and arm to record fifth fastest time, just ahead of the Imola race winner, Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati SC Caracchi).

CORTI CHAMPION IN EUROPEAN 600 SUPERSTOCK SERIES Claudio Corti (Trasimeno Yamaha) merely had to finish the race in the points to win the inaugural 600cc Superstock championship, and in finishing seventh he gave eventual race winner Yoann Tiberio (Team Italia Megabike Honda) no chance to take an improbably championship win. Niccolo Canepa (Kawasaki Bertocchi) and Maxime Berger (MBE Honda) completed the Magny–Cours podium.
Corti’s final championship score was 188 to Tiberio’s 180, with Berger overall third on 121.