Saturday Sep 9 2006
Superpole

Lausitz (Germany), Saturday 9th September: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) continued his impressive weekend form at the Lausitzring when he claimed his fourth Superpole of the year and the eleventh in his World Superbike career. Troy set the quickest time ever recorded around the German track (1m37.623s) in the morning's qualifying session, and was then the only rider to dip under the 1 minute 38 second mark in the one-lap dash as he edged championship rivals Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and James Toseland (Honda) into second and third place. Andrew Pitt completed the front row for Yamaha, just ahead of Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) in fifth.

"The whole weekend's been going very well so far and I'm feeling pretty confident on the bike" declared Troy. "I wanted to do a good Superpole lap, safe and in control and it turned out like that, even though I felt it wasn't a great lap. I really enjoy riding at the Lausitzring, it's a real physical track, we've done the test here a month or so ago and we know what tyre to use with all the track temperatures. It would be nice to get maximum points tomorrow but I'm approaching this weekend just like every other weekend and the plan is to win as always. The most important thing is to get through the first few laps and then we will see".



Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi, ninth after the regular two qualifying sessions, produced a good performance in Superpole to move up four places and he will start from row 2.

"I am very pleased with my Superpole lap" declared Lorenzo. "In the first part I had an excellent pace and I lost very little time from the frontrunners. In the second and third split I felt I could easily maintain the pace but unfortunately I came a little bit too late in a couple of corners and I lost some time. It's OK though because I didn't want to make any mistakes. I'm starting from the second row of the grid, immediately behind Troy and my time was just half-a-second away from his so I'm happy. My race pace is excellent, I've got a good feeling with the 999 and hopefully I can finally express my true form in both races".

TIMES: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m37.923s; 2. Haga (Yamaha) 1m38.079s; 3. Toseland (Honda) 1m38.254s; 4. Pitt (Yamaha) 1m38.291s; 5. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m38.479s; 6. Corser (Suzuki) 1m38.507s; 7. Barros (Honda) 1m38.613s; 8. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m38.734s; 9. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m38.749s; 10. Martin (Petronas) 1m39.065s.

TV COVERAGE: Eurosport (Pan European): Sunday 10 September - 1200 SBK race 1 (live), 1800 race 2 (delayed); British Eurosport (UK): Sunday 10 September - 1045 SBK race 1 (live), 1900 race 2 (delayed). Eurosport 2 (Pan-European): Sunday 10 September - 1530 SBK race 2 (live). La7 (Italy): Sunday 10 September - 1600 SBK race 1(delayed), 1700 SBK race 2 (delayed).