QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 20/09/2008
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) bounced back to top form on a dry track surface at Vallelunga and secured pole for Sunday's race, thanks to a new track best of 1'38.910. His time took him 0.345 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger and placed him in the perfect starting position to negotiate the fast opening corners at Vallelunga come raceday.
Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Supersport Team) starts the race from the second row of the grid after a strong qualifying performance on his first dry weather outing at Vallelunga.
Laverty started out his qualifying session with one machine based on the team's settings from the official tests in July, and one with alternative suspension settings, which worked well on the relatively cool track temperatures experienced today.
Parkes, who is going for his second race win of the 2008 season, has now scored three times as many poles as his nearest challengers, proving the pace of his Yamaha YZF-R6 at wide variety of circuits.
Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was prevented from setting a personal best time by another rider who collided with him, and bent his machine's exhaust so badly he could not negotiate right hand corners properly.
David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) made improvements in the dry that took him to 21st place on the grid, while his team-mate Jason Crowe (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) was 24th fastest.
Broc Parkes (1st - 1'38.910 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"That was much better. We tried a few different things compared to the test we did here in the summer. As soon as I went out the bike felt really good and we worked from a good base. Towards the end of the session we threw a couple of tyres at it. And both times we were up there. I think it is looking good for tomorrow."
Eugene Laverty (7th - 1'40.234 - Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"Second row so I am happy with that because that was were I was aiming to be. The way things were yesterday, with no dry track time at all, to get in the second row today was near perfect. We tried a few different things from Öhlins today and they worked well for me.
I was having some problems when trying to enter some corners aggressively, but those changes made things better. There are three corners I still need to work on before the race, just to be more flowing on the bike."
Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"We tried a few different things compared to the test because the circumstances have changed. The track temperatures were 62°C at the test, now they are much lower. The best thing is that the adjustments we have made since the test have seemed to work out quite well.
It rained yesterday so the track took some time to clean up, and then the wind direction was very different, so we had to make changes to adjust for that. Broc set a great time and I am very happy for him. He performed well. Eugene went well and earned a start from row two, which is good considering how little time he had in the dry."
Massimo Roccoli (20th - 1'41.104 - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni)
"Today the set-up was better than yesterday because in the dry my feeling with the bike was very good. I had a little problem with the suspension settings that held me back early on, but in the end of the practice at the Campagnano corner, during my best lap to that point, another rider hit me.
That impact bent the exhaust outwards and then it was impossible for me to make right hand corners. It was important for us to start near the front at this circuit, for me and the team, but tomorrow is another day and another race."
Circuit Length: 3200
Weather: Sunny
2008 WSS Italy - Vallelunga 20/09/2008 Qualifying 2
1 Broc Parkes AUS 1'57.534 1'38.910
2 Barry Veneman NED 1'55.996 1'39.255
3 Jonathan Rea GBR 1'55.427 1'39.300
4 Gianluca Nannelli ITA 1'55.858 1'39.687
5 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'57.607 1'39.713
6 Joan Lascorz ESP 1'56.324 1'39.990
7 Eugene Laverty GBR 1'57.315 1'40..234
8 Matthieu Lagrive FRA 1'54.362 1'40.260
9 Robbin Harms DNK 1'57.775 1'40.290
10 Didier Van Keymeulen BEL 1'56.329 1'40.401
11 Mark Aitchinson AUS 1'56.268 1'40.459
12 Josh Hayes USA 1'57.382 1'40.540
13 Russell Holland AUS 2'1.479 1'40.570
14 Ivan Clementi ITA 1'56.952 1'40.575
15 Terence Toti ITA 1'56.960 1'40.714
19 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'58.386 1'41.104
20 David Salom ESP 2'1.701 1'41.114
- Yamaha Racing -
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