American Ben Spies sets the pace for the first qualifying session, showing the paddock how to pull an extra three-tenths of a second by putting some 'elbowz' into it.
Yamaha World Superbike rider
Ben Spies sped to a provisional pole leading the Friday practice sessions at a warm, dry Assen TT Circuit. Despite being a complete newcomer to the Dutch track, the Texan was the only rider to clock less than 1’39 in the paddock. Spies was only four-tenths of a second away from the qualifying record Troy Bayliss set, all without the advantage of using qualifying tires.
Trailing the hot shot American within the space of one second were 15 other riders. Ducati Guandalini’s Jakub Smrz placed second on the timesheet with 1'39.055. Suzuki Alstar’s
Yukio Kagayama followed in third with a strong position that he will try to consolidate on Saturday. Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s
Carlos Checa followed in another four-cylinder machine to the fourth-quickest lap. The fifth-fastest qualifying time went to Ducati Xerox’s
Michel Fabrizio (1'39.238), despite his claim to be suffering from a lack of rear grip.
Regis Laconi (Ducati DFX),
Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare), and Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) rounded out the provisional front row and displayed the depth of speed inherent to this season’s paddock of riders.
Haga was running right behind Spies in the Friday qualifying session in Valencia. Now that he is a second slower the Ducati rider will have to pick-up the pace or hope the Texan doesn't clock consistent pace-setting laps.
put in another positive performance on his BMW S1000RR to take the eleventh-quickest slot despite increasing pain in his left hand that made changing directions difficult throughout the day. The Beemer was one position in front of the championship leader,
Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), who lapped in a good race pace. The point’s leader felt confident with the performance of his Ducati 1098R and has the benefit that comes from overcoming poor starts on the grid in the past.
Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) rode well up until a small crash at the end of the practice, which luckily did not result in injury. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of John Hopkins (Stiggy Racing Honda), who crashed heavily and dislocated his left hip in the morning’s free practice session. The American will miss the race and a decision will be made tomorrow on how long he needs for recovery and if any further measures will be taken for his riding season.
After recording the fastest time at Valencia's provisional pole
Max Biaggi performed an about-face at Assen, placing his Aprilia RSV4 16th on the timesheet.
Ben Spies - Yamaha World Superbike – 1st (1’38.747)
“It was a good session, we did half a race stint at the beginning on race tires that already had ten laps on from free practice and were only a few tenths off the fastest time from the race last year over race distance so I was really happy. We then put some fresh race tires on and the times just dropped dramatically and it seemed to come pretty easily. The bike’s working really well, there are a couple of things we still need to dial in but the track’s great and I’m having fun with it.”
A front-row spot on the grid might be just what Kagayama needs to land another podium for Suzuki.
"I am quite happy to finish today third, but my aim is to still be third or higher after qualifying and Superpole and then challenge for a podium on race day. This is something that I will try very hard to do because I do not want to be low down the grid and have to fight to get through the field at the start of the race. Today the grip level was not so good in the morning, but it was better in the afternoon; maybe because more rubber was down on the track. We need to do some more work on improving the engine braking and try and reduce the chattering at the rear end, but we have some ideas and we will try them out tomorrow."
Michel Fabrizio – Ducati Xerox – 5th (1’39.228)
“I am feeling fairly happy with today’s performance. I am losing a few tenths, all in the first split and that has to be resolved tomorrow. I think we’ve already identified a rear tire solution for the race but we’re still unsure as to the front. I had some grip problems with the front today but towards the end of the qualifying the feeling I had with the bike began to improve so we hope that we can continue to make improvements tomorrow too.”
Max Neukirchner – Suzuki Alstare Brux – 7th (1’39.265)
"Today was not so bad and I am quite happy with what we did. I got into a good, quick rhythm this morning and put in quite a few good laps. The grip was better in the afternoon for sure; probably because more rubber was down and it was a good session for us. Tomorrow we will continue working on the set-up and deciding which tires to use for the races. It's important to find a tire that has good grip and lasts ok and that's what we try and sort out the best way."
Troy Corser – BMW Motorrad – 11th (1’39.597)
“It’s another new racetrack for us, so once again there’s lots to do and try out. Considering all the work we did, I am happy enough with 11th at the end of the day, especially when you think that I’m only half a second off third place! We have some ideas about what to do tomorrow and hopefully we can improve the bike. At the moment, it’s not the way I want it, so that’s something that we will have to work on tomorrow, but I’m sure we can make the bike better. My left hand is a bit sore after two sessions on the bike. I hurt it in the Monza tests recently and had it checked out afterwards to make sure nothing was broken. It was OK this morning, but it became quite a bit sore in the afternoon session and I found it hard changing direction. Also, it felt a bit painful when I braked hard for the turns. I’m hoping that it will improve overnight and I will be able to push as hard as I want tomorrow.”
Noriyuki Haga – Fiat Yamaha – 12th (1’39.621)
"It’s been a fairly positive day and I’m feeling comfortable. The only real problem is that we have good rear traction that means we are consuming tires too quickly. So tomorrow we need to find a way to increase the life of the tires without losing grip. So although I wasn’t fastest today, the Race is Sunday and as far as I’m concerned, the sessions on Friday are for finding solutions for the race. Tomorrow I aim to qualify at the front of the grid.”
Tom Sykes - Yamaha World Superbike - 15th (1’39.899)
“I’ve got a couple of little problems which I feel are restricting me. I really want to pull the trigger and go but until we get to the bottom of these it’s a little bit tricky. I had a couple of problems with the front, and not been able to push that last little bit to make the difference round every corner. At the end I went into turn one, and thought I was doing everything right but just went down. It wasn’t a big one though, so looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve gathered a lot of information today so hopefully we can put it to good use in the morning.
