Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
06/19/2009
Misano Adriatico (ITA)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Superbike World Championship races from Misano, Italy will air back-to-back on SPEED on Sunday, June 21 at 3:30 and 4:30pm ET.
Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) slammed in two quick laps in rapid succession at the end of today's Misano Q1 to end up with the provisional pole at the Misano World Circuit. The Italian's time of 1 minute 37.016 seconds was good enough to edge out Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) from the top slot, after the Texan rookie had headed the standings almost throughout. Third and fourth on the provisional front row of the grid went to the still injured Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) and British rider Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). The top 19 positions in today's standings are all contained within one second, confirming the current equilibrium reigning in Superbike. The provisional front row is also made up of four different manufacturers - Ducati, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda - with a fifth, Kawasaki, opening up the second row following a superb performance by Broc Parkes.
The session also confirmed the constant improvement of the Ten Kate Honda team, with Ryuichi Kiyonari and Carlos Checa in sixth and seventh position respectively, ahead of points leader Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), four-tenths of a second down on his team-mate. After two difficult events, BMW have bounced back into the top 10, with Troy Corser running well throughout and ending up tenth overall. This time round BMW went better than Aprilia, as Shinya Nakano could only manage 11th and Max Biaggi 16th, eight-tenths off the polesitter. For the moment John Hopkins (Stiggy Racing Honda) is outside the Superpole top 20, the American down in 26th position on his return to action following his Assen crash.
Times: 1. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'37.016; 2. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'37.102; 3. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'37.209; 4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.238; 5. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'37.281; 6. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.396; 7. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.44; 8. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'37.451; 9. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.490; 10. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'37.503; 11. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'37.630; 12. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'37.702; 13. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'37.710; 14. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'37.773; 15. Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'37.786; 16. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'37.813
