The eleventh round of the Corona Extra Superbike World Superbike Championship got off to a cold start at the EuroSpeedway at Lausitz in Germany. The weather conditions may not have suited everyone but they certainly played into the hands of Xerox Ducati's
Troy Bayliss who ended the session in P1.
Bayliss said, “Ducati don't really have any advantage at Lausitz, it's one of the harder circuits for us. Even though I've won races there, we do tend to struggle a bit, probably because of the short, smaller corners. Lausitz could go either way, good or bad, but the weather being cooler than Brands could work in our favour now that the summer is over.
Brands Hatch was a big disappointment for us and the title is out of reach now so I'm just going to try and win races and finish runner-up in the championship."
James Toseland set the early pace on his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda leading the session to the half way point before Bayliss stole ahead of him by 0.174secs.
Noriyuki Haga was third fastest on the Yamaha Italia machine and was looking threateningly fast in the first sector.
His team-mate
Troy Corser was running in fourth place and is hungry for a win this weekend. He said, “This weekend I'm going all-out to win; I've gone well at Lausitz in the past and Nori's previous results there show that the Yamaha also goes well so it should be a good weekend."
A rejuvenated
Karl Muggeridge on the Alto Evolution Honda was in fifth place and his new team-mate, Yoann Tiberio who is replacing Josh Brookes finished his first Superbike session in eighteenth.
Michel Fabrizio in the DFX Treme Honda was in sixth with local rider Max Neukirchner on the Suzuki Germany machine was in seventh.
Lorenzo Lanzi on the second Xerox Ducati was in eighth place, the young Italian has had superb results here in the past.
