Ten Kate’s Rea missed by one – World SBK
- From: 'the Wire' | Published: September 5th, 2009 - 5:48 pm
Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two 11th-round World Superbike championship races from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole session at Nurburgring in Germany.
It looked as though Rea might take his first WSBK pole start but Japan’s Noriyuki Haga pipped the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland with his final lap, beating Rea to the top slot by two hundredths of a second.
Rea has been running at the top of the timing sheets all weekend but he lost almost 20 minutes of the free practice session just before Superpole. His main bike developed a technical problem and Rea then crashed his spare machine, cutting his left index finger and thumb. However, his technicians were able to repair his number one bike in time for Superpole.
His Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team mate, Carlos Checa, progressed to Superpole 3 this afternoon and will start from the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s two 20-lap races.
Jonathan Rea – P2, 1’55.749s (Superpole 3)
I put a pretty good lap in at the start of the last Superpole session and thought it would be enough. But all credit to Nori – it was a really good lap on a not exactly 100% qualifying tire. But my package was working really well and I’m glad the guys didn’t go to sleep during the summer break. We’ve come here with some really good development parts for the bike and I can’t thank the boys enough for digging deep. I really love this circuit but didn’t ride so well in the Supersport race here last year but this is a new year and I think our race package is pretty good. I can sleep solidly tonight and really look forward to tomorrow.
Carlos Checa – P8, 1’56.699s (Superpole 3)
We changed a little bit for the last run and I thought I would be able to do a low 56 or even a high 55, but it did not come. I am pre! tty happ y with the race tire, though and the package is feeling good, even though I am still struggling a little in the first sector. I wasn’t feeling so good today – a headache and maybe a little temperature. So we’ll hope for more tomorrow, both from me and the bike.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
I think we can all be quite happy with the results achieved today. It’s good to see that the work we did during the summer break has paid off. We honestly thought that Jonathan had secured pole position and I think Haga’s lap caught everyone in the paddock by surprise! Anyway, we are quite ready for the races tomorrow with both Jonathan and Carlos strong on race tires. So hopefully we’ll get some good results to maintain our recent progress.
Ten Kate Honda Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari qualified for Superpole after this morning’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s two 11th-round World Superbike championship races at Nurburgring in Germany.
However, the Japanese ace was not able to find the right feel with his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade in order to progress beyond Superpole 1 from which the 16 fastest riders proceed to the final two sessions.
A disappointed Kiyonari finally qualified 18th fastest on the fifth row for tomorrow’s two 20-lappers at the 5.13km Nurburgring.
Pole position was taken by his fellow Japanese Noriyuki Haga with Kiyonari’s Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Jonathan Rea, taking the runner up slot.
Ryuichi Kiyonari – P18, 1.57.522s
I am very disappointed with today’s qualifying sessions and Superpole because yesterday it felt like we were making some good progress with the bike and I had a good feeling in the wet. Today in the dry the feeling was not so good and I’m not so sure what we can do to improve things. But we will look at everything again later to see where we can improve the bike and maybe the rider. Of course, I will try my best in tomorrow’s races and hope for a better result than today.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
We felt that we were making some good progress with Kiyonari-san’s new suspension set up yesterday, but he appears to have lost some of that good feeling today. I strongly believe that we are still moving forward, however, so the Superpole result today is a real shame. Kiyo is a fighter though, and we all know he will give it his best shot in the races tomorrow.
2009 World Superbike championship, round 11 – Nurburgring, Germany
Final qualifying results:
1 Noriyuki Haga (JPN) Ducati 1’55.489s
2 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’55.749s
3 Leon Haslam (GBR! ) Honda 1’55.776s
4 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Ducati 1’55.927s
5 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 1’55.938s
6 Troy Corser (AUS) BMW 1’56.296s
7 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia 1’56.440s
8 Carlos Checa (ESP) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’56.699s
18 Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) Ten Kate Honda Racing 1’57.552s
WSS
Kenan Sofuoglu will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 11th-round World Supersport championship race at the Nurburgring in Germany after setting the second fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session.
The Turk lapped the famous 5.15km circuit in a time of 1’59.201 as Britain’s Cal Crutchlow took pole position for tomorrow’s 19-lap race.
Sofuoglu’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Andrew Pitt, will start from the third row after setting the tenth fastest time, but the Australian’s renewed confidence in his Honda CBR600RR continues to grow.
Kenan Sofuoglu – P2, 1’59.201s
It wasn’t too bad today and we are definitely improving the bike each time we go out. I went a second faster than this morning, which shows the progress we are making, and second place on the grid is a good place to start. Of course, Crutchlow was very fast today but P1 in the race is the one that counts. I think I will be racing with him and Laverty tomorrow. The team has worked so hard and I am able to hold a line when I open the gas, which is a big improvement. We will look to make another step forward in warm-up tomorrow.
Andrew Pitt – P10, 2’00.455s
It doesn’t look such a great result from the outside, but my confidence is growing all the time and I think we probably have a top five package at the moment. I did a couple of laps with Kenan this afternoon and I’m having to keep the throttle closed just a little bit longer than him, which I think is down to the balance of my bike. But we’re definitely making progress and we’re closer than we’ve been for a while. It’s tough in the first three turns and then at the end of the lap, but we’re seeing problems better and fixing them. There’s some work to do but it’s all going in the right direction.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
We definitely found a way forward this afternoon but unfortunately we were not in a position that allowed Andrew to capitalise but Kenan is going pretty well. Of course, we need to go faster, so we have some more work to do tonight and in the morning in order to challenge for a win tomorrow.
2009 World Supersport championship, round 11 – Nurburgring, Germany
Final qualifying results:
1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 1’57.866s
2 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’59.201s
3 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 1’59.373s
4 Garry McCoy (AUS) Triumph 1’59.716s
5 Michele Pirro (ITA) Yamaha 1’59.765s
6 Katsuaki Fujiwara (JPN) Kawasaki 1’59.779s
10 Andrew Pitt (AUS) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’00.455s
