Chris Vermeulen on his Winston Ten Kate Honda ran away with pole position with a time of 1min 39.836secs ahead of the final round of the Corona Extra World Superbike Championship at Magny Cours in France. The lap record that belonged to Neil Hodgson, 1min 40.754secs was sent tumbling on Friday, firstly by
Yukio Kagayama and then
Troy Corser, however Vermeulen blasted everyone with his 1min 39secs lap.
Whilst Vermeulen was setting the track on fire, Troy Corser was smoking his rear tyre up and sliding everywhere, which cost him dearly on the time front. He finished in sixteenth place which translates to the fourth row of the grid, apparently the problem was caused by too high a pressure in his rear tyre.
Vermeulen admitted that he hadn't expected to be that fast, “To be honest I didn't expect such a quick time bit I'll take it! Troy had problems with his bike and I think this is his first time off the front row.” When asked about how his season has turned around Vermeulen said “It's been going better and better and everyone has bad luck at some time. I had mine at the start of they year and Troy is having his now. It will be a tough race tomorrow, so I need to get away with the lead group.”
Second fastest was Ducati's protégée,
Lorenzo Lanzi was second fastest on the F05 but in the Carrachi team colours, which was his gift from Ducati for doing a good job when he stood in for the injured
Regis Laconi at the Eurospeedway in Germany. Lanzi said “The new bike is very good and on race tyres it is good, so I can push for good lap times.” Lanzi is hoping to land one of the much coveted Ducati factory rides for next season and his performance so far would justify this.
Noriyuki Haga slotted his Yamaha Italia machine into third place on the front row of the grid. He is happy with his position as it should give him a good start, and he has decided which tyres he wants to run in the race so he is ready for race day.
