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Motorland Aragon Qualifying 2 and Superpole, June 18 2011, Second day of qualifying in Alcaniz, Spain for the Pedercini Superbike team. After a few problems yesterday, today Aitchison moved in the right direction with the set-up of his Kawasaki ZX 10R. The turnaround allowed the Pedercini team rider to lap fourteenth fastest (2’00”024) and qualify for the Superpole.
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June 18 2011 - Motorland Aragon Qualifying 2 and Superpole
Second day of qualifying in Alcaniz, Spain for the Pedercini Superbike team. After a few problems yesterday, today Aitchison moved in the right direction with the set-up of his Kawasaki ZX 10R. The turnaround allowed the Pedercini team rider to lap fourteenth fastest (2’00”024) and qualify for the Superpole. Unfortunately Rolfo was not able to find the right feeling with his bike. He closed in nineteenth position (2’00”678), missing out on the Superpole. Rolfo worked during the free practice to find the best set up in view of tomorrow’s races while Aitchison prepared his Ninja for the subsequent Superpole. In his first Superpole, despite never having visited the circuit prior to this weekend, Mark Aitchison was extremely impressive. In the first phase he was able to improve on his best lap time by more than one second (1’59”015) to reach the second phase. Unfortunately with no more soft tyres to use, Mark obtained the twelfth position (1’59”680) missing the final session of the Superpole. Third row for Aitchison and fifth for Rolfo in tomorrow’s 20 lap races.
Superbike – qualifying 2: 1) Checa (Ducati) – 2) Smrz (Ducati) - 3) Biaggi (Aprilia) – 4) Sykes (Kawasaki) ……14) Aitchison (Kawasaki)……..19) Rolfo (Kawasaki)
Superbike – free practice: 1) Biaggi (Aprilia) – 2) Checa (Ducati) – 3) Melandri (Yamaha) – 4) Sykes (Kawasaki) ….. 16) Rolfo (Kawasaki) – 17) Aitchison (Kawasaki)
Superbike – Superpole: 1) Melandri (Yamaha) – 2) Biaggi (Aprilia) – 3) Camier (Aprilia) – 4) Checa (Ducati) – 5) Sykes (Kawasaki) ……. 12) Aitchison (Kawasaki)
Roberto Rolfo: “I’m disappointed because I was not able to enter the Superpole. Unfortunately my bike is sliding a lot, especially in the lowest curves. It’s the same problem I suffered during yesterday’s practice and qualifying. During the afternoon free session I worked very hard with my team trying to find the right solution and I’m confident for tomorrow races. I’ll start from the fifth row and I will do my best to finish as far forward as possible”.
Mark Aitchison : “Today has been a good day for our team. During the qualifying I gained a good feeling from the bike and with some small modifications my mechanics made overnight, I really felt comfortable to push. I managed to enter the Superpole, which was a great experience for me. It was my first time using the soft qualifying tyres and I was blown away
by know how much grip I had. In the end I finished in twelfth position, so I feel we are in a good position to start tomorrow’s races. Tomorrow morning I will try to confirm our race set up and tyres choice, than look forward to the races. Thank you so much to my team for their excellent work today”.
Pedercini’s Superstock riders faced nice weather and a dry track surface in the morning free practice in Aragon. Staring started to move in the right direction, improving on his best lap time by more than one second (2’04”101) and reaching eighth position. Bussolotti (2’04”770) and Mercado (2’05”443) also improved on their lap times. The Italian rider was thirteenth while the Argentinian closed in eighteenth place. Hotter temperature however for the qualifying session. Bussolotti (2’10”235) was really unlucky. He broke his bike’s engine after only two laps. For this reason the Italian rider could not improve on his best time set yesterday, and closed the session in eighteenth position. Staring improved on his lap time by more than one second, reaching the eleventh place. An excellent performance by Tati Mercado. He was able to lower his best lap time by approximately two seconds, jumping from twentieth to twelfth place. Third row start for Staring and Mercado and fifth row for Bussolotti in tomorrow’s 12 lap race.
Superstock 1000 – free practice: 1) Giugliano (Ducati) – 2) Petrucci (Ducati) – 3) Canepa (Ducati) – 4) Barrier (BMW) … 8) Staring (Kawasaki) ….13) Bussolotti (Kawasaki) …… 18) Mercado (Kawasaki)
Superstock 1000 – qualifying 2: 1) Petrucci (Ducati) – 2) Zanetti (BMW) – 3) Giugliano (Ducati) – 4) Canepa (Ducati)……. 11) Staring (Kawasaki) – 12) Mercado (Kawasaki) …... 18) Bussolotti (Kawasaki)
Marco Bussolotti: “I’m really disappointed with this afternoon qualifying session. In morning free practice I worked with my team to improve my bike’s set up, thinking ahead to this afternoon’s qualifying. I was really determined to improve on my lap time and to reach a good position on tomorrow’s starting grid. Unfortunately after only two laps my engine
switched off and I was forced to retire from the session. My technicians are now working to solve the engine problem and tomorrow I’ll try my best to obtain the best possible result”. Brian Staring: “I’m disappointed once again. Eleventh on the grid is not the end of the world and I know that the important thing is tomorrow but we didn’t make progress during the afternoon as we did during the morning and I don’t know why I couldn’t get a better lap time. We improved from yesterday but not enough. During morning practice I had a well used tyres and did better on that than with the fresh tyres this afternoon, which is strange. Anyway the bike and team are working well and I hope to be able to do better in the race tomorrow”.
Leandro “Tati” Mercado: “I'm satisfied with my third row start. This afternoon’s qualifying session has gone well and we found a good setting for the race. Now I feel I can push the bike harder and I have to thank all my team for their great work. We have made real improvements to the bike this afternoon and I am ready for the race. We have to see whether I can make the good start that I need to really be in the running. I will try to ride aggressively from the third row and go for the best result possible".
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