WSB QATAR - Qualifying 1 [updated with report]
 

Despite the tricky track conditions, former World Superbike Champ, Troy Bayliss blasted his Xerox Ducati to provisional pole position, ahead of the first round of the Corona Extra World Superbike Championship in Qatar.

His lap time was 2mins 17.326secs, quite a long way off last year's lap record of 2mins 01.244secs, held by current World Superbike Champion Troy Corser. The race track was still drying out after very heavy rain which thwarted much of this mornings free practice session.

Second fastest was former Ducati man, Regis Laconi with a time of 2mins 19.064secs. Laconi has made the move to PSG-1 Kawasaki for this season, and is on board the all new ZX10R. He seems to be adapting well to the in line four instead of the V-twin that he has raced in recent years. His team-mate, Chris Walker wasn't far behind him and took up residence in fourth place.

Troy Corser was the Suzuki meat in the Kawasaki sandwich, as he split the two green machines. Corser will have quite a task this season holding onto his number one plate with stiff competition on all sides, and a very full grid of highly competitive riders.

MotoGP exile Alex Barros qualified in sixth place on board the Klaffi Honda. Barros has a plethora of race experience under his belt and could be the man to upset the regulars this season. Hot on Barros' heels were both the Yamaha Italia riders of Pitt and Haga. They have had a good amount of test and development time on the R1 which looks like it is going to pay off.

The Winston Ten Kate squad of James Toseland and Karl Muggeridge were in eighteenth and thirteenth respectively. Toseland has been settling into his new team well and getting a good feel for the four cylinder machine – he has only ever raced v-twins at world level so it has been a bit of a change from him. Muggeridge has just become a Dad and is over the moon with the birth of his son Ryan. Both Ryan and his wife Isabelle are well after the birth.



crash.net

[Edited on 23-2-2006 by domski]

WEATHER THE MAIN FACTOR ON OPENING DAY With early morning rains continuing for most of the day at Losail, the first untimed session proved to be fully wet, even though the timed afternoon session was held in slowly drying conditions. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) proved to be the rider with the greatest feel in the semi-wet track surface, scoring provisional pole with a time of 2’17.326. His team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi played it safe on day one, with better conditions expected on the second and final day, scoring 27th fastest time. An eclectic provisional front row included the PSG-1 Kawasakis of Regis Laconi (2nd) and Chris Walker (4th), with third place taken by the reigning World Champion, Tory Corser (Alstare Suzuki).

BARROS TOP HONDA RIDER ON DAY ONE Riders with long experience, or accustomed to riding in a wide variety of extreme weather conditions, performed well on the ever-changing surface at Losail, as Yamaha Motor France IPONE rider Sebastien Gimbert proved by going fifth fastest on his R1. Gimbert’s team-mates, Norick Abe and Shinichi Nakatomi, went 12th and 24th fastest respectively. An SBK ‘rookie’ but the most experienced former MotoGP rider of all, Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) was an impressive sixth fastest in his first competitive session, putting good knowledge of Qatar to the best possible use. Yamaha Motor Italia riders, Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga took their red and white Yamaha R1s to seventh and eighth places, each handling the transitional track conditions with a cool head.

KAWASAKI RIDERS MAKE GOOD EARLY STARTS IN LOSAIL
New SBK™ inductee Franco Battaini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) may be riding a privateer 2005-spec ZX-10R for the first time this year, but his knowledge of Losail, allied to his impressive abilities, delivered him to ninth place on the provisional front row. A great opening day for Kawasaki riders in general put third Kawasaki PSG-1 rider, Fonsi Nieto, just behind Battaini, making him the fourth ZX-10 rider inside the top ten.

CHILI LEADS MIDFIELD HONDA RIDERS DFX Treme Honda rider Pierfrancesco Chili called on all his seasons of experience to finish 11th fastest, with his young rookie SBK™ team-mate, Michel Fabrizio, in 20th place. Going the wrong way with settings in the changeable track conditions, the Winston Ten Kate Honda duo of Karl Muggeridge and James Toseland had an unhappy first day. Muggeridge scored 13th place, with Toseland 18th.

DUCATI MAN ROLFO FORGES ON Another SBK™ ‘new boy’ Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi 999) made an assured debut for his team, finishing 14th out of 29 entrants, and ahead of Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra second rider, Yukio Kagayama. The top 16 was rounded out by a second year SBK™ rider, Max Neukirchner (Pedercini Ducati), competing in his first competitive Ducati session. The Petronas duo of Steve Martin and Craig Jones scored 17th and 23rd respectively. Despite still recovering from a broken leg, Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) scored 21st best time, putting in 17 laps in the hour-long session.

World SBK website

[Edited on 23-2-2006 by domski]

Blimey :o

Bayliss over two seconds ahead of Corser in the first spat of the battle of Troy. That must be a psychological blow especially at Qatar with it's 1km (?) straight - which should give the IL4 boys the advantage of getting the power down.

Mind you Lanzi must be pig sick, nearly 9 seconds of the pace of his team mate. You can only imagine that there's a problem with his bike of some sort

[Edited on 23-2-2006 by Jools]

Maybe the sick pig riding it is the problem? :eureka::lol:

Is it wet? those times are 15+ seconds down on last year.

Yes.

They get 3 days of rain in Doha each year. Just so happens that last year they had 2 days of it, and this year... oops!

Maybe they should vote for a later start next year ;)

Fantastic start for Bayliss 2 seconds ahead bet he's glad he went out in the wet now then...

Stalker in 4th too... plus Barros is already at the sharp end on a bike he's barely even seen let alone ridden.

Corser is already there though which is worrying

oh yes, exciting or what. Never sure what any of the practice sessions tell you, some teams are still testing/setting up and of course the wet is a great leveller so guys like Walker can look like they actually have a chance, (when they don't IMHO).

Bayliss 1.7s better than the rest, impressive. Would like to see Barros do well. Surprised Haga is so far back and Toesland 18th, can't be a true reflection, must have been some luck with wet/dry or something no?

WeeJohnyB

Glad I put Gimbert in my MCN Fantasy road racing thingy.... and of course Bayliss!

Can somebody give me their Sky package please - otherwise I will not be able to watch any WSB :mad:

Is it REALLY true that WSB is not going to be shown on terrestial TV at all??

RX