Motourage

Team Suzuki Alstare’s Michel Fabrizio narrowly missed a second row grid position for tomorrow’s British round of the World Superbike Championship at Donington Park during today’s Final Qualifying and Superpole.

The Italian is happy with his central position on the grid and will start the 23-lap races from the third row, confident of getting a good start in both.

Conditions were very different to yesterday, with freezing cold temperatures and overcast skies replacing yesterday’s sunshine; and a track surface that remained below 7 Degrees Celsius (45 deg F).

Current series leader Carlos Checa (Ducati) put in a flyer of a lap in Superpole three to take his second pole of the year, nearly three-tenths-of-a-second ahead of his nearest rival Leon Haslam (BMW).

Michel Fabrizio – 11th, 1:29.135:
“Considering that I ended 17th fastest yesterday, I guess you could say that 11th today is a good improvement. But of course, I would’ve preferred a place on the second row of the grid because that would have made the starts a little easier. Now I will have to make sure I make good starts in both races to be able to fight with the leaders. It feels a bit like a funnel going into turn one, so I definitely do not want to get held up entering the turn. It’s going to be a bit hectic for sure, but I certainly want to be in the top six by the time I exit the turn.

“Today’s conditions were very different to yesterday and it was very cold indeed. That didn’t seem to affect our grip level though, so we were able to concentrate of finding a good set-up for the bike. At the moment we are not quite there yet, but we have improved a lot since the first session yesterday.

“The feeling of the bike in Superpole 2 was good. It is this that we want to build on for the races, so we will try a few little things in the warm-up tomorrow. The difference in lap times from Pole to me are pretty small, so I don’t think anybody is going to clear off and easily win the races. There are going to be some big battles tomorrow and I am really looking forward to them.”

Friday WSB Qualifying: 1 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:28.099, 2 Leon Haslam (GBR-BMW) 1:28.365, 3 Tom Sykes (GBR-Kawasaki) 1:28.556, 4 Jakub Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1:28.561, 5 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Aprilia) 1:28.673, 6 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia). 11 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:29.135.

World Superbike Combined Qualifying Results
1. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 28.794s
2. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 1min 28.841s
3. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 1min 29.194s
4. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 1min 29.379s
5. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1min 29.397s
6. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 1min 29.438s
7. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 29.472s
8. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 29.476s
9. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R 1min 29.580s
10. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R 1min 29.588s
11. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 29.612s
12. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 1min 29.613s
13. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1min 29.637s
14. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 1min 29.782s
15. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 1min 29.843s
16. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1min 30.008s
17. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR 1min 30.169s
18. Roberto Rolfo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 30.680s
19. Mark Aitchison AUS Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 31.117s
20. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R 1min 31.485s

World Superbike Superpole Results
1. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1098R 1min 28.099s
2. Leon Haslam GBR BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 28.365s
3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki RTS ZX-10R 1min 28.556s
4. Jakub Smrz CZE Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1min 28.561s
5. Noriyuki Haga JPN PATA Aprilia RSV-4 1min 28.673s
6. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 28.702s
7. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 28.737s
8. Jonathan Rea GBR Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 1min 39.514s
9. Marco Melandri ITA Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 1min 28.803s
10. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 28.836s
11. Michel Fabrizio ITA Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 1min 29.135s
12. Joan Lascorz ESP Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1min 29.422s
13. Eugene Laverty IRL Yamaha WSBK YZF R1 1min 29.312s
14. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Effenbert Liberty Ducati 1098R 1min 29.879s
15. Maxime Berger FRA Supersonic Ducati 1098R 1min 30.002s
16. Ruben Xaus ESP Castrol Honda CBR1000RR 1min 30.076s

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Michel Fabrizio escaped serious injury when he was hit behind and crashed during second qualifying for Sunday’s World Superbike Championship round at Donington Park in Great Britain.

The Italian – who had put up a strong performance in the morning session on his GSX-R1000 – was classified 17th, but is upbeat and ready for tomorrow’s Qualifying and Superpole.

Surprisingly-warm conditions of 16 degrees Celsius (60 Deg F) saw the circuit blessed in sunshine for most of the day as reigning champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia) set the fastest lap ahead of Marco Melandri (Yamaha) and series leader Carlos Checa (Ducati) third.

Michel Fabrizio – 17th, 1:30.383:
“The new section of the track, at the Fogarty Esses, has made the lap times faster and the track is a bit more flowing now. It’s quite a technical track and it’s vital to have a good set-up if you want to lap quickly. It’s the kind of track where, if you mess up one corner, you’re going to mess up the whole lap.

“Today I struggled a bit with rear grip, but part of the problem was that we had some new forks to try and quite a few adjustments to make. I think that they are an improvement, so now we’ll have to work on them and improve the feeling. This is normal work, but something that just has to be done.

“In the qualifying session this afternoon, I got hit from behind and crashed and was lucky to escape injury. I feel sorry for my mechanics because they have a lot of work to do to repair the damage and replace a lot of parts.”

Friday WSB Qualifying: 1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 1:28.794, 2 Marco Melandri (ITA-Yamaha) 1:28.841, 3 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:29.194, 4 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha) 1:29.379, 5 Jakub Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1:29.397, 6 Leon Haslam (GBR-BMW) 1:29.472. 17 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:30.383.

In World Superbike race #1 yesterday from Brno, Czech Republic, Ben Spies took the lead before Michel Fabrizio on the #84 Ducati made his move on lap #4. Fabrizio, going inside of Spies for the lead, lost his front end, lowsiding his Ducati and taking out himself and Spies. Spies was understandably upset, as was Michel. Before race #2, Fabrizio, sitting inside his garage, held up a hand-made sign that read “Ben Spies I Love You.” Max Biaggi took the opportunity to give Aprilia its first race win since 2001.
It was all Ben Spies in race #2, as Ben took to the front and never let up as Fabrizio and Biaggi fought for the second spot. Biaggi beat Fabrizio for second, and Rea, Checa, Haga, Sykes, Byrne, Smrz and Corser rounded out the top 10.
World Superbike will enjoy more than a month off before they take to Germany’s Nurbugring on Sep 4-6.