Saturday May 12 2007
Superpole

Monza (Italy), Saturday 12 May: Troy Bayliss rode a storming Superpole lap at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza this afternoon to line up second on the starting-grid for tomorrow's Italian Round of the World Superbike Championship. The Australian's time of 1'45.345 was only bettered by polesitter Noriyuki Haga who was four-tenths of a second quicker on his Yamaha. Max Biaggi (Suzuki) and Troy Corser (Yamaha) make up the front row ahead of points leader James Toseland (Honda), while Ducati Xerox team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi recorded a 1'47.067 to go twelfth quickest.

"It all went well" declared Troy. "Superpole is always a difficult one especially here in Monza, there are a few nerves flying around because it's pretty special here. It's been a little bit up and down for us this weekend and we've had a few interruptions but we're getting there. I've been struggling a little bit with the bike moving around all weekend so we have to work a little bit more on that and make a small change tomorrow morning but I'm happy to start on the front row, its very important here. It's going to be a very hard day tomorrow. I'm really struggling in the second split but going really strong in the first and last split which is good because I can always tailback on the start-finish straight. Everyone's going so fast that it could be quite dramatic tomorrow!"



"We tried to limit the damage in Superpole, but as I was the first rider to go out the track was not very quick" commented Lorenzo. "We could see that because the last eight guys all went well. I improved on my last year's time, we'll see what the races are like tomorrow but they are not going to be easy. I did a lot of laps with different tyres and we now have a clear idea on which one to choose. I want to make a good start to remain with the leading group. I knew that this was going to be the most difficult track on the entire world championship calendar, but the bike is going well and I hope to do a couple of good races tomorrow.

Times: 1. Haga (Yamaha) 1'44.941; 2. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1'45.345; 3. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1'45.415; 4. Corser (Yamaha) 1'45.430; 5. Toseland (Honda) 1'45.824; 6. Muggeridge (Honda) 1'46.232; 7. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1'46.437; 8. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1'46.696; 9. Fabrizio (Honda) 1'46.753; 10. Rolfo (Honda) 1'46.758.

TV Coverage : Eurosport 2 (Europe) Sunday 13 May, 1515 race 2 (delayed). Eurosport (Italy) Saturday 12 May, 1945 Superpole (delayed); Sunday 13 May, 1200 race 1 (live), 2000 race 2 (delayed). La7 (Italy) Saturday 12 May, 1550 Superpole (live); Sunday 13 May, 1150 race 1 (live), 1525 race 2 (live). RAI2 (Italy) Sunday 13 May, 1730 races 1 + 2 (highlights).