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Imola Qualifying 1, September 23 2011, Sunny weather and hot temperatures today at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola for the first Superbike and Superstock 1000 free practice and qualifying sessions. It will be a special weekend for Roberto Rolfo as he will make his 100th race start in World Superbikes, in race 1 on Sunday.
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September 23 2011 - Imola Qualifying 1
Sunny weather and hot temperatures today at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola for the first Superbike and Superstock 1000 free practice and qualifying sessions. It will be a special weekend for Roberto Rolfo as he will make his 100th race start in World Superbikes, in race 1 on Sunday. Teammate Mark Aitchison is very motivated to perform well and finish the season on a high. In morning free practice both riders started to adapt their Ninja ZX 10R to the technical Italian circuit. Aitchison (1’50”942) was nineteenth while Rolfo (1’51”481) followed in twentieth position. Excellent performance for Aitchison in the qualifying session. Mark (1’49”665) improved his bike stopped twice and the Italian rider was forced to reenter the box on foot losing a lot of time. With his second bike Roberto (1’51”086) reached the twenty first position.
Superbike – free practice: 1) Checa (Ducati) – 2) Haslam (BMW) – 3) Melandri (Yamaha) – 4) Smrz (Ducati) – 5) Rea (Honda) …19) Aitchison (Kawasaki) – 20) Rolfo (Kawasaki)
Superbike – Qualifying 1: 1) Rea (Honda) – 2) Checa (Ducati) – 3) Haslam (BMW) – 4) Fabrizio (Suzuki)- 5) Melandri (Yamaha) … 15) Aitchison (Kawasaki) … 21) Rolfo (Kawasaki)
Roberto Rolfo: “In qualifying the bike stopped twice and the second time it happened at the Rivazza corner and I had to make my way back to the garage on foot, losing a lot of time in the process. In the time that remained we worked hard but didn’t do as well as we had hoped. I closed the session using my second bike but it wasn’t quite right and I was unable to do better than twenty-first position. Tomorrow we’ll work to make it into the Superpole.”
Mark Aitchison: ”I think today for me has not been easy to find a good rhythm on the bike. The Imola circuit is very different to the other past races and we must work on our bike’s balance and engine braking system overnight to improve. I enjoy riding here, but to go faster Imust feel a little more comfortable in some areas. If we can look to do this then I can work for our races on Sunday”.
Tati Mercado made a good start to his first day at the world famous Imola circuit. In morning free practice the Argentinian (1’55”284) gradually improved throughout the session to finish in fourteenth position. Bryan Staring (1’56”461) was three positions behind his team-mate while Marco Bussolotti was forced to stop after only few laps due to a technical problem. The Italian rider was really unlucky also in this afternoon’s qualifying session when he was able to complete only a few laps due to another technical problem. Mercado (1’54”106) was very fast throughout the entire session but
unfortunately he found a lot of traffic during his best laps, reaching the fourteenth position while Staring (1’54”122) followed in fifteenth position.
Superstock 1000 – free practice: 1) Barrier BMW) – 2) Zanetti (BMW) – 3) Petrucci (Ducati) – 4) Baroni (Ducati) ……. 14) Mercado (Kawasaki)………17) Staring (Kawasaki) NQ Bussolotti (Kawasaki)
Superstock 1000 – qualifying 1: 1) Petrucci (Ducati) – 2) Giugliano (Ducati) – 3) Barrier (BMW) – 4) Canepa (Ducati) ……. 14) Mercado (Kawasaki) – 15) Staring (Kawasaki) …….. NQ) Bussolotti (Kawasaki)
Marco Bussolotti: “What can I say? It was a very difficult day for me and for my technicians. We had some technical problems both in morning free practice and afternoon qualifying and I was able to complete only three laps. I hope to do something better tomorrow.”
Brian Staring: “This morning we had a technical problem in middle session and I lost some time. This afternoon we made some small adjustments to the bike and we improved during the qualifying session. It was not a good day because I’m having some difficulties through the chicane, but my technicians are now working to solve this problem and I’m sure tomorrow we can improve my lap times and my position.”
Leandro “Tati” Mercado: “I’m disappointed because today my pace was very fast but unfortunately I found a lot of traffic in the last five minutes during my fastest laps. Anyway I’m pretty happy because my bike is working well and we just need to solve some chattering problems on the front. I’m confident for tomorrow”.
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