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Brno Qualifying 2, July 09 2011, The second Superbike and Superstock 1000 qualifying session took place today at Brno in
the Czech Republic.
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July 09 2011 - Brno Qualifying 2
The second Superbike and Superstock 1000 qualifying session took place today at Brno in the Czech Republic. Sunny and dry weather conditions gave the Team Pedercini Superbike riders the opportunity to work on the set-up of their machines. Roberto Rolfo was impressive during yesterday’s free and qualifying practices and he continued to improve during this morning’s qualifying. Unfortunately he didn’t improve enough to enter the Superpole reaching only the eighteenth position (2’00”710). Aitchison (2’00”781) consolidated sixteenth position set yesterday, thus entering the Superpole despite the fact that he was not able to improve on his best lap time. In Superpole an excellent performance for Mark Aitchison. In phase one he was able to obtain the eight place improving also on his best lap time (1’59”845). Unfortunately in the second phase Mark could not use any more soft tyres and for this reason he obtained only eleventh place (2’00”362), missing out on the last phase of the Superpole. But it was nonetheless a fantastic result for team Pedercini and for the Australian rider. Third row for him and fifth for Rolfo in tomorrow’s 20-lap races.
Superbike - qualifying 2: 1) Smrz (Ducati) - 2) Biaggi (Aprilia - 3) Melandri (Yamaha) - 4) Laverty (Yamaha) - .........15) Aitchison (Kawasaki) ..........17) Rolfo (Kawasaki)
Superbike - free practice: 1) Laverty (Yamaha) - 2) Checa (Ducati) - 3) Biaggi (Aprilia) - 4) Melandri (Yamaha) .......... 15) Aitchison (Kawasaki) - 16) Rolfo (Kawasaki)
Superbike - Superpole: 1) Biaggi (Aprilia) - 2) Melandri (Yamaha) - 3) Checa (Ducati) - 4 Laverty (Yamaha) - 5) Smrz (Ducati) - 6) Fabrizio (Suzuki) .........11) Aitchison (Kawasaki)
Roberto Rolfo: "I’m really disappointed that I was not able to enter the Superpole as it was an attainable goal for me, but I’m happier than yesterday because I was able to improve on my best lap time even if the track conditions were not so favourable after overnight rain. Yesterday I decided to use the soft tyre too late and today it was difficult to improve on my performance. In any case I’m confident for tomorrow’s races also because during the afternoon’s free session my technicians worked hard to attain certain objectives and my feeling with the bike is now better. Tomorrow I’ll be starting from the fifth row and it won’t be easy, but I’ll try to do my best and I hope to reach good results".
Mark Aitchison: "I have really enjoyed my time on the bike in Brno today. In qualifying and during the free practice sessions my team and I worked hard with our new clutch setting to find the best direction. We are making steady improvements forward and I’m gaining more confidence each time with this. During our Superpole run, my team again improved my feeling on the bike and I was able to push very hard with the qualifying tyres. I will focus on selecting the right tyres tomorrow for both races, depending on the temperature and then have some fun on the track".
In this morning’s Superstock 1000 FIM Cup free practice, Brian Staring was the unfortunate victim of a crash towards the end of the session. The Australian rider crashed in the last corner of the circuit when he lost control of his Ninja ZX10R. He bruised his ankle but was able to line up for the afternoon’s qualifying. Marco Bussolotti (2’05”643) continued to improve on his lap times reaching the final twelfth position, while Tati Mercado (2’06”117) did his best to gain confidence with this new circuit, concluding eighteenth.
In afternoon qualifying, Bussolotti (2’05”291) improved on his best lap time set yesterday, obtaining thirteenth place, meaning the fourth row of the starting grid. Tati Mercado was able to improve on his lap time by more than one second (2’05”581), reaching seventeenth position and the fifth row. Staring (2’05”581) too will start tomorrow from the fifth row. Due to his crash during this morning’s free practice, Bryan did not find the right feeling with his bike on this difficult circuit this afternoon and he closed in eighteenth place.
Superstock 1000 - free practice: 1) Petrucci (Ducati) - 2) Barrier (BMW) - 3) Canepa (Ducati) - 4) Reiterberger (BMW) ........... 12) Bussolotti (Kawasaki) .......... 18) Mercado (Kawasaki) ........... 20) Staring (Kawasaki)
Superstock 1000 - qualifying 2: 1) Petrucci (Ducati) - 2) Giugliano (Ducati) - 3) Barrier (BMW) - 4) Reiterberger (BMW) - 5) Baroni (IDucati) ........ 13) Bussolotti (Kawasaki) ........ 17) Mercado (Kawasaki) - 18) Mercado (Kawasaki)
Marco Bussolotti: "I’m satisfied with today’s practice and qualifying. The situation is better compared to yesterday. In afternoon qualifying I worked very hard with my technicians and we found some good improvements for my bike’s set up. We still have a lack of grip on the rear wheel and tomorrow’s races will be very difficult, starting from fourth row, but I’m still feeling positive".
Brian Staring: "I haven’t made any improvement since Friday and this session was no better. The changes we have made have perhaps not been the right ones and I don’t have a great feeling with the bike or with the track. A crash this morning didn’t help and this afternoon I just didn’t have enough confidence with the bike. I am really disappointed to be honest".
Leandro "Tati" Mercado: “I’m satisfied with the work we have done over these two days and also this afternoon we worked a lot to find a solution to our setting problems in view of tomorrow races. I have a good race pace and tomorrow I will be trying my absolute best for the race, although I expect it to be very tough".
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