Motourage

2nd Fabien Foret, 1st Chaz Davies, 3rd Broc Parkes

Kawasaki Provec Racing‘s World Supersport riders Broc Parkes and David Salom overcame several obstacles at Assen to record strong finishes on race day, with Parkes third and Salom fifth in a twice-restarted and eventually shortened race.

Parks eventually took his second podium of the year and now sits three points from the top, in second place overall, as points leader Luca Scassa crashed out of a race won by his teammate Chaz Davies.

Salom is now fifth overall in the points, only 16 from the leader, as he continues his push to take his first podium score of 2011.

Massimo Roccoli, from the Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni Team, was sixth today and moved to seventh in the standings. His team-mate Vittorio Iannuzzo fell but is still inside the top 12 championship positions.

Broc Parkes
“I was a little bit fortunate that some other riders went out but I was unlucky to be bumped wide in the first turn, so it was just luck coming back my way. I am second in the championship and only three points from first, so it is like the season just started again. We have learned some things to take from this weekend to Monza and the team is always working on new things, so we can look forward to that. We improved the bike every day here and I had the pace so we scored a podium and got some good points again.”

David Salom
“A very confusing day but a good race. My start was good the first time but it did not count and in the second and third starts it was no good. I had some work to do to. I think I was in about 14th place in the first lap of the real race but when I got behind Broc he passed rider after rider and I got up to fifth place. My lap times were good and a top five was not so bad. We overcame some problems that we had in practice and I was happy to be able to make a pass on another rider in the last corner to make it into the top five.”

Fabien Foret finished second in Sunday’s third round and crash-strewn World Supersport Championship race at Assen in the Netherlands. The Frenchman finished seven seconds behind race winner ParkinGO Yamaha’s Chaz Davies after tire problems forced him to ease off in the closing laps

The race was red flagged twice; initially after Parkalgar Honda rider Sam Lowes crashed out of contention on lap four. The restart was barely a lap old before two other riders crashed at the final chicane, bringing out another red flag.

In the second restart, Foret’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda teammate, Florian Marino, was taken out of a podium position by Italian rider Luca Scassa, who careered into the rear of Marino’s Honda CBR600RR on lap seven of the revised 16-lap encounter around the 4.542km Assen circuit.

Foret had started the race from the outside of the front row and fell back to sixth place in the early stages before fighting his way through and then benefiting from the exit of Marino and Scassa.

However, tire problems similar to those which forced his exit from the opening round in Australia, meant the French rider was unable to push and, with a big gap behind him, he rolled off the throttle to ensure his first points of the season.

Fabien Foret – 2nd
It was a tough day but I’m happy with 20 points, but we had some pretty bad tire issues with about four or five laps to go. I had to try to save the tire and finish the race so I was lucky that there was a good gap to Broc Parkes in third. I had to ride really slowly just to finish the race but at the end of the day it turned into quite a good weekend. Between the tire issue and the fact that I am still not quite 100%, it’s good to get some points and I hope for Monza to be in really good shape to fight for a win.

Florian Marino – DNF
Of course I’m really disappointed. After all the work that we did as a team over this weekend, it’s a very tough way to finish a race. I know these things can happen in a race sometimes, but I’m not happy that it happened to me today. Everything was OK in the race and I was just waiting to see how Gino Rea was going in front of me. But I have shown that I can fight for podium positions and I’m looking forward to Monza to do that again.

Ronald ten Kate, Team manager
We had quite a difficult weekend here until Sunday morning. On Saturday night we found a breakthrough with setup which needed a lot of extra hours working from everyone involved with the team. So a big thanks must go to them for today’s results. Florian was riding at his best ever for us and was very unfortunate to be taken out. But things like that happen when there’s an intense battle up front and, for sure, being as young as he is, there will be more days for him. Fabien also had troubles this weekend. Injuries have not been holding him back so much and the Sunday morning set-up really allowed him to propel himself forward in the race. However, he encountered a similar tire problem to Phillip Island, and he had to close down the throttle towards the end of the race. We need to work on his starts, which are not so good, but apart from that I must give him big compliments for staying calm all weekend. When the bike was good, he was really fast so we’re really looking forward to Monza and carrying this momentum forward. We’re not so far behind in the championship so we’ll take it race-by-race and get the maximum we can from each weekend.

2011 World Supersport championship, round three – Assen, Netherlands
Results (16 laps):
1. Chaz Davies (GBR) Yamaha 26m37.029s
2. Fabien Foret (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +7.236s
3. Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki +8.084s
4. Robbin Harms (DEN) Honda +8.191s
DNF. Florian Marino (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda

Championship points after three of 12 rounds:
1. Luca Scassa (ITA) Yamaha 50, 2. Parkes 47, 3. Davies 45, 4. Harms 37, 5. Salom 34, 6. Foret 20, 9. Marino 17

Next round: Monza, Italy – May 6-8.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Michel Fabrizio fought his way up from the fourth row of the grid to take fifth place in the opening World Superbike race at Assen on Sunday.

Marco Melandri leads Castrol Ten Kate Honda's Ruben Xaus

Despite a poor start, the Italian battled his way through the field and was up to fourth place with just four laps remaining. But by then, his front tire was almost completely gone, and when Yamaha’s Marco Melandri overtook him in the final chicane, Fabrizio could not push hard enough to re-pass his fellow countryman.

Castrol Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea took the lead on lap three, and held on for the win, followed by Alitalia Aprilia’s Max Biaggi and Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa.

In race two, Fabrizio charged up to seventh place and was in battle for fifth with Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty and BMW’s Leon Haslam, but after six laps, his front tire started moving about. He pushed as hard as he could to pass the duo, but had to settle for seventh position.

Michel Fabrizio – Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 7th:
“Generally I am quite pleased with our performance today – especially considering that I had to start from the fourth row of the grid. I didn’t make a good start in the first race, but managed to get into fourth by lap 12. It had taken some time to get past some of the riders, but I was fairly comfortable in fourth until a few laps from the end. My front tire was already moving about a lot by the time Melandri came past and although I tried to catch him again, the tire wasn’t up to it; so I had to be satisfied with fifth instead.

“I used the same tires (soft front and rear) for race two, but this time, they began to go off after only six laps. From then it was a real struggle to push hard enough to catch and pass Haslam and Laverty, but I kept trying right to end of the race. At the finish, I was just one tenth-of-a-second behind Laverty, so it was pretty close.

“Although today was quite a good day for us, it would’ve been so much better if I had not have had the problem in Superpole yesterday. I am convinced that if I had been on the first or second row of the grid today, I would’ve got on the podium for sure – and maybe have even won a race.”

The Dutch track proved challenging for Yamaha World Superbike riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty Sunday afternoon at round three of the Superbike World Championship in Assen, the Netherlands. Marco Melandri got off to a less-than-perfect start off the grid in race one falling from eighth back to 11th in the first lap. He put his head down, working his way through the pack and pushed up to fifth place by lap 10. Aiming for a podium, he closed in on the leading gang before crossing the checkered flag in fourth position.

Teammate Laverty initially fell back a few places before regaining third position on lap seven and creating a significant gap ahead of Althea Ducati rider and current points leader Carlos Checa in fourth. Unfortunately, mid race he began to struggle with the rear of the bike and found himself fighting hard to maintain the pace before crossing the finish line in seventh. The determined Irishman put on a strong and steady performance in race two. Experiencing trouble with the front of the bike, he initially fell back to ninth but put in a series of consistent laps to push back up to sixth. Race two proved unfortunate for Melandri who shot off from eighth position on the grid and worked his way up to fourth before losing the front of the bike and crashing out on turn seven of the 16th lap. The Italian put in the top speed in race one and two with his YZF-R1 reaching a high of 298.7 km/h (185.6mph).

Melandri heads to round four of the 2011 championship in Monza third in the championship with 85 points, 47 behind the current championship leader. Teammate Laverty sits in ninth place in the standings with 35 points.

Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team – 4th, DNF
“I got a bad start in race one and seemed to be losing feeling in the rear of the bike. By the time I had regained feeling and a good race pace it was too late to push for the podium. In Race two the bike seemed to have a better set up and I managed to get a good start off the grid. I closed in on the leading pack but after the first ten laps I started losing grip in the rear tire. I was keeping an eye on Rea and was planning to close in on him in the last laps but unfortunately without even realizing it, I lost the front and crashed out. I’m very disappointed with this and hope it doesn’t happen again.”

Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team – 7th, 6th
“I was doing really well until mid-way through race one when I started suffering from chatter and losing balance due to displacement in the rear tire. I struggled for the second half of the race and managed to finish in seventh position. Race two was more consistent even if a little slower. We made the wrong choice of tires on the front but I’m still getting used to Superbike tires and knowing what I need to use as the temperatures change. This weekend has been productive; I’ve learned more in this round than I have so far this season.”

Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
It’s a pity how race two concluded for Marco. He got off to a good start and held faster race pace than in race one. Putting in a series of fast laps on a hard race tire was stressing the front tire on entering turns and consequently he lost the front of the bike. The lack of results on this track will make him more motivated before his home round in Monza. Eugene made great progress this weekend and is definitely more prepared for the upcoming races. He didn’t just gain points but also valuable experience. The technical input from the problems encountered here will help improve on the set up in preparation for the next round. We need to increase the bike stability exiting turns and find a better setting to be used with soft tires. We aren’t using the bike to its full potential.”

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Michel Fabrizio will start tomorrow’s third round of the World Superbike Championship at Assen in 13th position after getting held up in today’s opening Superpole.

After clocking the fourth-fastest time yesterday at the Dutch circuit, the Italian failed to make Superpole 2 when fellow countryman Ayrton Badovini (BMW) remained on the racing line on his slow lap instead of moving over; Fabrizio was forced to check his speed and go off-line, losing his chance of getting into Superpole 2 by just .01″.

Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) took his third Superpole of the season with a lap of 1:35.293. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) took second, with Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) third and Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) fourth.

Michel Fabrizio – 13th, 1:36.148:
“It was a great shame what happened at the end of the first Superpole because it ruined what would’ve probably been a place on the front two rows of the grid. My times on race tires have been consistently-good and I was fairly confident of being on at least the second row. I was on a hot lap – towards the end of Superpole 1 – and was thinking that Superpole 2 would be no problem, but then I saw Badovini right on the racing line and had to change my direction: That small change was enough to lose the chance of getting into Superpole 2 and I was angry because he wasn’t even on a fast lap. Racing is like that sometimes, but now it means I have a mountain to climb in the races tomorrow.

“It’s a pity because I am pretty happy with my race set-up and know I can do consistently good times – but the problem is going to be my grid position. Starting from the fourth row of the grid is never easy because everybody is so competitive and it’s going to be difficult to run with the leaders if I do not get good starts. So, my aim is to get the best starts I can and see how far up the field I can get in the first lap. It’s going to be another tough day, but I am determined to fight hard and will do the very best I can.”

Final Qualifying & Superpole: 1 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:35.292, 2 Jakub Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:35.560, 3 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha) 1:35.580, 4 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Aprilia) 1:35.920, 5 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:36.138, 6 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 1:36.302. 13 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:36.148.

Yamaha World Superbike riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty experienced the historic Assen TT race track on their YZF-R1s for the first time in this morning’s free practice session. Sunshine and a dry track proved ideal conditions to try the machines’ basic set up. The two Yamaha riders got straight down to business in order to find more suitable settings ahead of the afternoon’s first Qualifying session.

Marco Melandri

Melandri encountered discomfort with the handling of his machine and lack of grip on the Dutch track. Hard work throughout the afternoon saw a huge improvement, allowing him to put in a series of consistently fast laps and complete the session in third place. The Italian also tested various tires solutions looking for the optimum set up ahead of tomorrow’s second qualifying and subsequent Superpole sessions

Teammate Laverty took advantage of the first practice session to regain confidence and feeling on his bike following the difficult weekend in the last round of the championship in Donington. Once satisfied this was accomplished he proceeded to work on various machine settings and tire life to find a suitable solution for the day ahead tomorrow.

Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team
“We had a relatively difficult morning, experiencing a lack of grip and suffering with the handling of the bike. The team and I worked hard all afternoon. The crew did a great job trying resolving the problem and we made significant progress. There’s still some fine tuning to be done and we need to find the most competitive tire for the race on Sunday. Tomorrow I’m going to concentrate on qualifying, I’m aiming to secure a front row position on the grid and I think we can do it.”

Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team
“This morning was important for me to regain confidence on the bike. We had a very tough race weekend in the last round of the championship but I’m satisfied that I managed to put that behind me in today’s free practice session. We made progress this afternoon, improving on the chassis and finding more suitable tires. I completed a longer run, almost a race run and put in respectable times. Completing the session in eighth is pretty good considering we spent the day working on the setting, so overall I’m relatively satisfied.“

Andrea Dosoli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“I’m quite happy with the start to the weekend in Assen. After improving on the set up of the bike both Marco and Eugene tried out some softer tires and managed to put in faster laps. There’s still some work to be done but I’m confident that we are going in the right direction. It’s very important that both riders have good results in tomorrow’s qualifying and Superpole sessions, securing grid positions in the front two rows.”

Yamaha World Supersport riders Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies successfully completed a series of fast laps in free practice and qualifying sessions on the historic Assen TT race track this afternoon. Following the team’s one-two victory in the last round of the 2011 WSS championship, the two Yamaha ParkinGO riders are determined to take the lead again here in Assen and proved competitive in today’s performance.

Chaz Davies completed this morning’s free practice putting in the fastest lap, more than three tenths of a second ahead of reining British Supersport champion, Parkalgar Honda’s Sam Lowes, in second place. The afternoon session saw the Brit push back to fifth while concentrating on fine tuning the setup of his YZF- R6 in advance of tomorrow’s second qualifying and Sunday’s race. Teammate and current championship leader Luca Scassa also provided an impressive performance, just two tenths of a second behind Davies in the morning session and jumping up to second in the subsequent qualifying session.

Chaz Davies, Yamaha ParkinGO Team
“We had a good start this morning, fastest in free practice. We changed the set up slightly before the afternoon’s qualifying session and that also worked pretty well. I’m concentrating on re-familiarizing myself with the track and not too concerned with lap time and position for now. We have some work to do but I’m confident that we can do well again tomorrow.”

Luca Scassa Yamaha ParkinGO Team
“This is my first experience in World Supersport on the track in Assen. This morning we worked on testing the bike suspension. We are happy with the outcome but still have some work to do on the set up. I’m satisfied with my lap times and confident that we have a competitive bike.”

2011 World Supersport Netherlands Assen 15/04/2011 1 Florian Marino Honda FRA 1’38.945 2 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 1’39.121 3 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 1’39.191 4 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 1’39.291 5 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 1’39.519 6 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 1’39.569 7 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1’39.766 8 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 1’40.247 9 Gino Rea Honda GBR 1’40.273 10 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 1’40.344 11 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 1’40.471 12 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 1’40.691 13 James Ellison Honda GBR 1’40.697 14 Miguel Praia Honda POR 1’40.848 15 Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 1’40.885 20 Battaini Franco Yamaha ITA 1’41.531 28 Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 1’44.461

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Michel Fabrizio ended the first day of World Superbike practice and qualifying at Assen with the fourth quickest time, happy with the job he and the team had done.

Conditions were good throughout the day at the Dutch circuit, although the morning sun did give way to grey clouds in the afternoon. Fabrizio finished first practice in 16th place, but improved dramatically to fourth and in contention for Pole during the afternoon timed session aboard his GSX-R1000.

Czech rider Jakub Smrz (Ducati) dominated both sessions today, ending with a lap of 1:36.058 – three tenths of a second inside the lap record set by Jonathan Rea last year. Second quickest was reigning champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia), with Marco Melandri (Yamaha) third, less than a tenth-of-a-second ahead of Fabrizio. The top six bikes today were all different manufacturers and just one-and-a-half seconds separated the top 13 riders.

Michel Fabrizio – 4th, 1:36.550:
“I am quite happy, because I think we did a very good job today. We didn’t panic after the morning session, when we were 16th, but just went about our job professionally and got our reward as a result. We didn’t even use a soft tire until the end of this afternoon’s qualifying, so I am particularly happy. I have a good feeling with my bike and my lap times have been pretty consistent when I did a bit of a long run his afternoon.

“Unfortunately, I am not at 100%, because I have stomach upset. My son was ill at the start of the week and he gave me his bug. It doesn’t affect me too much, but of course, I would prefer to be in the best condition possible.

“Assen is a very technical track and it’s hard to shave off those last fractions of a second. I prefer the ‘old’ Assen, but I guess most of us do. It’s very important to be on the first row of the grid here, because the first turn is a bit of a funnel and you do not want to get held up there. If you don’t get through it, in the front or up with the leaders, it’s very hard to get back into contention.

“This is my first time here on the Suzuki and the feeling is very different to racing a twin. This bike changes direction much more easily and is less physical. The last chicane used to be very hard – especially at the end of a long race – but my Suzuki is going through it very well and so I am really looking forward to the races.”

Friday Qualifying: 1 Jakub Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1:36.058, 2 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 1:36.287, 3 Marco Melandri (ITA-Yamaha) 1:36.494, 4 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:36.550, 5 Tom Sykes (GBR-Kawasaki) 1:36.747, 6 Troy Corser (AUS-BMW) 1:36.876.

All three official Kawasaki riders will be challenging at Assen, as Chris Vermeulen joins his fellow regulars Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes for what should be his first full race weekend of the season.

Despite being so early in its overall development program, the Ninja ZX-10R has already proved its worth as a serious contender in the hands of Sykes and Lascorz, after only two rounds of a 13-round season have been completed. The push for top finishing positions continues apace with everyone involved in the Kawasaki effort energized by the front row qualifying performance of Sykes at the previous Donington Park round, followed by a strong top five race result from WSBK rookie rider Lascorz in the second contest of the day.

Assen is a firm favorite with the vast majority of riders, but for Lascorz it will be another new challenge, as he has not ridden a Superbike before at the classic Netherlands venue. He has many of happy memories of racing there on Supersport machinery, however, which fills him with hopes of two strong results as he continues to recover full strength around his injured right shoulder and arm.

For Vermeulen, Assen is almost a second home track when you consider his family connections to the Netherlands. While Sykes is not only a fan of the track layout itself, he should be able to count on support from a good number of fans from Britain as many UK bikers make an annual pilgrimage to Assen for the WSBK race weekend.

In readiness for the Assen round both Vermeulen and Sykes undertook shakedown tests at the Brands Hatch circuit on Tuesday, April 12, all of which went according to plan. Now the entire team heads to round three in confident mood that all possible preparations have been made to take on their latest challenge.

The supported Pedercini Team Kawasaki squad will also arrive at Assen with their usual pair of Superbike riders, Roberto Rolfo and Mark Aitchison, but they have even more combined confidence after Rolfo beat the opposition at the opening Misano round of the Italian Superbike Championship last weekend, while riding the all-new Ninja ZX-10R.

Tom Sykes:
“I am looking forward to Assen partly because Donington was a bit unfortunate for me, but there were a lot of positives to take away about the ability of the new Ninja ZX-10R. I really enjoy racing at the Assen circuit and we were not too shabby on the older model last year. I never got to sample the real old Assen layout, but judging by the sections that remain the full old circuit would have been interesting to ride. But to be honest most circuits on the WSBK calendar are fun to ride, especially with this new bike that is able to work at each circuit. It is pleasing to ride. As long as the bike works at every track I am happy to ride at every track, but Assen is still one of my favorites.”

Joan Lascorz:
“The result of Donington was good for my motivation and for Kawasaki to see that we are heading in a good way. Is nice to ride with people like Biaggi, Rea, Haslam, Xaus and others, so I learned a lot. I’m not at 100% yet physically but even with this we were able to make a good race in England. I’m better than I was in Australia and in Assen I will be better than I was in Donington. I like Assen, and used to made good races there in the past in WSS. We will see in WSBK how we can manage. Since Donington I have ridden some Supermotard with my chief engineer Pere Riba, which was very funny. We also tested with a 600 in a small circuit just to keep up my race fitness a little. Kawasaki is working so hard all the time so I hope to have a good weekend in the Netherlands.”

Chris Vermeulen:
“My impressions of the new bike are all positive. Kawasaki has done an amazing job with it and I am just excited to look at the development of this bike, even though it is in the early stages. I think the biggest difference on the new model comes from the chassis, the balance and the character the bike has in turning. Also the electronics are a big step forward. The engine feels smoother even though it is more powerful, and the whole bike is what we need to compete.”

Roberto Rolfo:
“My win in the Italian Superbike series at Misano boosted both my morale, and that of the team, because we were finally able to see the fruit of the work we had put in at Phillip Island and Donington. At Misano we found a good set-up for my Ninja and so we’ll go from there this weekend at Assen. I really like the track, as it is very technical and hard work. I’m confident and hope to do well in Sunday’s races, for my team and for all my fans.”

Mark Aitchison:
“At Donington we collected a lot of valuable data that will enable us to refine our bike setting and hopefully make me more comfortable on the bike throughout the upcoming weekend. So really the goal for Assen in the first two days of practice and qualifying is to regain the feeling that I had with the bike in Phillip Island. Once I get this sensation back, I can really start to push for better lap times and look for some race consistency.”

Suzuki Alstare’s Michel Fabrizio is looking for a change of luck at this weekend’s third round of the World Superbike Championship at Assen. The Dutch circuit, a fixture on the WSBK calendar since 1992 and a flowing circuit favored by many riders, hasn’t always been kind to the Italian; since his third place in race one in 2006 his best finish has been a fourth in 2009.

Michel Fabrizio:
“Other riders say how good the Assen circuit is, but it has never been much of a happy hunting ground for me – well not since 2006 that is. I’m not exactly sure why I have never got on with the circuit as well as some of the other riders, but the track and I have just not gelled – for whatever reason. Mind you, things will be a bit different this year because, after years on a twin, this time I will be on a four-cylinder bike. The characteristics are very different to a twin and I am hoping that the bike will suit the circuit and I will enjoy the ride.

“Because the track has a ‘flowing’ nature, once again it will be important to get a good, stable set-up before pushing too hard. If you push too hard at this track, you will end up going slower, so I need to keep calm and just get into a good rhythm. If I can do that and qualify well, then I am sure I can challenge the top guys.

“I was happy with my performance in the second race in the last round and felt I was working well with the bike, or maybe the bike was working well with me! I need to get a good set-up for the bike early on in practice and qualifying and then I will be able to run with leaders.

“The competition is very, very hard this year and often just fractions of a second can make the difference between the front row of the grid and the third. I think this is probably the toughest season in World Superbike history, but I am enjoying the challenge. I like a good fight and certainly intend on improving on my last year’s results.”

2010 Results:

Race 1: 1 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda), 2 James Toseland (GBR-Yamaha), 3 Leon Camier (GBR-Aprilia). 13 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati).

Race 2: 1 Rea, 2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare), 3 Toseland. 12 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati).