Yamaha riders Spies and Sykes settle in for the penultimate round at Magny Cours

Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies enjoyed a good start to the French Superbike weekend, ending his first qualifying session less than two tenths of a second off fastest rider Michel Fabrizio. It was the American rider's first experience of the Magny Cours circuit, however as normal it took very little time for him to get up to a decent race pace.

Team mate Tom Sykes finished the qualifying session in 15th position, just over a second off provisional pole. Sykes made improvements to his set up and speed over the session and with more to come tomorrow was confident of moving up the standings in advance of Sunday's race.

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (4th, 1'38.939)
"It was a good first session, I've worked out where the track is going and we've been making improvements to the settings over the day. I think we've found a good pace for race distance, but there are still a couple of things we can improve on for tomorrow. The track is still a bit slippery in parts, but I still think we can find some more speed for the next session and get up there. For the first day I'm happy."

Tom Sykes, Yamaha World Superbike Team, (15th, 1'40.048)
"I think we made some improvements in qualifying today, obviously we need more but we're heading in the right direction. I definitely think there's a bit more to come from myself and from the bike as well. We're struggling in a couple of corners, I think if we can sort that problem we will make a big difference. We've played with some tyres in that session as well so I think we know what race rubber we're going to need for Sunday. Tomorrow morning we'll continue to work on the settings, I certainly feel we can do more tomorrow."

Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
"It has been a good day for both riders today. Ben has never raced here so it's good to see he is still picking up circuits very quickly. To end the day less than two tenths of the fastest rider is not bad. Tom was improving his pace well during the session and I think there is more to come for both riders tomorrow."

 
Circuit Length: 4411
Lap Record: 1'40.601 (Lorenzo Lanzi, 01/01/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'38.444 (Noriyuki Haga, 05/10/2008)
Last Years Winner: Troy Bayliss 
 
2009 WSB France - Magny-Cours 02/10/2009  Qualifying 1
1 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'38.770
2 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1'38.821
3 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 1'38.877
4 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'38.939
5 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'39.379
6 Troy Corser BMW AUS 1'39.435
7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'39.497
8 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1'39.613
9 Fonsi Nieto Ducati ESP 1'39.772
10 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1'39.834
11 Leon Haslam Honda GBR 1'39.900
12 Karl Muggeridge Suzuki AUS 1'39.964
13 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 1'40.000
14 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 1'40.017
15 Tom Sykes Yamaha GBR 1'40.048
20 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'40.554


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