After an unlucky day on their Sterilgarda Ducatis,
Ruben Xaus and Max Biaggi will start tomorrow's Australian World Superbike races from eleventh and 16th positions respectively.
In Superpole, 2003 championship runner-up Xaus could not repeat his good performance of the second timed session, where he scored the fifth best time and showed a satisfying race pace to go along with the speed he showed in the first round at Qatar.
“I could not run the Superpole as I wished,” the Spaniard said, “The rear tyre had too much grip for the set-up I chose, and I had difficulties to control the rear in some of the bends.
“However, I'm sure I will have the time to get back positions during the two races, given that I have found an excellent pace in race trim.”
‘Roman Emperor' Biaggi had to quit his Superpole lap altogether after his gear lever snapped off on the warm-up lap, and he will start tomorrow from the fourth row. A bad day for the man tipped by many to be Bayliss' biggest rival for the championship.
“That‘s a real pity,” Biaggi said of his qualifying incident, “I was aiming for a good position to start from, but the gear lever snapped during the warming-up lap.”
The Italian remains confident for race day, although he still has decisions to make.
“For the race, I still have to decide which of the two set-ups I'm going to use, since both of them seem to be good,” he noted.
Sterilgarda team manager, and former rider, Marco Borciani was philosophical about his riders' woes, but more optimistic about their chances on race day.
“I'm not satisfied by today's result,” he said, “but it came just from an unlucky day so I'm not worried.
“Both Max and Ruben have an excellent race pace which will allow us to fight for the leading positions. The race is long and there is time to recover from our bad grid positions. Bayliss and the two Yamaha riders, Corser and Haga, are our primary rivals, but I'm sure that some other outsider will enter the battle.”
