Aug 02, 2008 - After mixed conditions throughout the day it came as no real surprise when this afternoon's Superpole was declared "wet". Rain ceased almost immediately however which meant that all of the sixteen participants adopted the same strategy, waiting until the final fifteen minutes of the fifty minute session before exiting on what had already become a drier track.
The strategy worked perfectly for Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox), whose final three laps were also his fastest, thus awarding him his fifth pole position of the season. It is the third year running that Troy has taken pole at Brands, and tomorrow will also see the fiftieth front row start of his World Superbike career. Joining him on tomorrow's front row are Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Italia), Ryuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Hanspree Honda) and Jakob Smrz (Guandalini Racing by Grifo's) on the satellite Ducati 1098RS.
Troy Bayliss - Ducati Xerox - Superpole I'm very happy to take pole today in such mixed conditions. The wet Superpole meant we had twelve laps available during the fifty minute session. We decided to wait until the end of the session when the track would have had chance to dry out a bit, and then I went out and did one lap to take a look at the track before going out on a qualifier, with which I did three laps, the last of which was my fastest and just fast enough to take pole. We're looking good on the race tyre for tomorrow so I'm pretty confident. I'd like tomorrow to be dry of course, it would make for great racing and be good for all the fans and hopefully we can get a good result!
Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Italia - 2nd Obviously I am happy to be second and before Superpole I was a little bit worried because of the rain stopping our plans. I was trying to improve my feeling on a dry track, and we did improve our performance. Anyway I will be trying absolutely my best for the races although I expect it to be very tough tomorrow. I really like this circuit, and I love to win here so I will be trying my best to do that.
Ryuichi Kiyonari - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda - 3rd Obviously I like this track but Superpole was a difficult session. We are very happy with our set-up for the race and I want to thank my team staff for setting things up so well on the machine. I want to make a good show in front of my British fans as well as take good results for the team.
Superpole Highlights
Troy Corser - Yamaha Italia - 5th With the weather the way it was today it got a bit messy at times, and it caught everyone out. We had a wet Superpole but we couldn't get enough qualifying tyres to let us finish Superpole properly. We had 12 laps but we only had two qualifiers. I had used my first one when it started raining, so I re-used it, and then only had one left to set our best time. The bike is working well and we'll be ready for tomorrow. From row two it will be elbows out into turn one!
Max Biaggi - Sterilgrada Ducati - 7th We have not reached the top yet, therefore tomorrow morning during the warm-up we are going to work further on fine-tuning the bike. Repeating the last two rounds results will be hard but I'll give my best to be one of the leaders. The tyre choice according to the weather will be very important and I feel confident to have picked up the right one for me.
Max Neukirchner - Suzuki Alstare - 8th I am not so happy to be on the second row of the grid, but I think I should be OK for the races. Brands is a difficult track and it's going to be hard to win here, but I will be trying my best for sure. We had some chatter problems yesterday and today and I'm not sure if the problem is worse here because of all the bumps. Also, I had a bit of a problem with my bike exiting the corners, so tomorrow we will alter the front and rear suspension to see if we can make the bike more stable. I don't think anybody got a good wet set-up today, so I am hoping it will be dry tomorrow and we have two good races.
Yukio Kagayama - Alstare Suzuki - 9th Superpole was not easy today because of the conditions. I thought the rain would carry on throughout the session and I would be in a good position. But the rain stopped, the track became almost dry but I did not have enough time to put in as many fast dry laps as I would've liked. But we've got a good set-up for a dry race and I am hoping that it will be dry tomorrow. Ninth is actually not a bad grid position because you are the best side of the track for the run down to turn one. If I can make good starts, I can challenge for the podium.
Fonsi Nieto - Alstare Suzuki - 10th We didn't really have many problems in practice and qualifying today except that the bike was spinning up in a couple of places and that meant that I was losing drive. But the rest of the track was OK and I am quite happy because I did my best lap on old tyres. Superpole was not so good, but Superpole is not normally good for me anyway, so no difference! Tomorrow I will have a fresh engine and, because we have quite a good dry set-up, I think I can make good races.
Carlos Checa - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda - 11th This is not an easy track and it is difficult in some places to judge the correct speed. Of course the final lap time did not come out the way we wanted. We tried a few different things but I did not find the best way to negotiate the entry into the corners, at some places on the track at least. In most other places we are OK. I think things will come together and today we definitely made some improvements. We are only a few tenths from the race pace and we will try again to improve a couple more tenths in warm-up. That may be important for the race.
Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox - 12th Today I had a few problems. I was never totally confident with the front of the bike and at two corners in particular I wasn't able to control it. We worked with two different tyres and changed a few different things during the session but it didn't make a lot of difference and I just never felt completely comfortable really. We hope to do much better tomorrow, in fact we are confident we will do so, though I also hope it will be dry for the races.
Ruben Xaus - Sterilgrada Ducati - 15th I feel very low. I would like to ride as usual but I suffer the movements of the bike and I cannot react. It's hard to think to get a good result under these conditions, after 4-5 laps I'm strengthless. I hope that some night rest can buck me up.
Kenan Sofuoglu - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda - 17th It's a shame to be so close to qualifying for Superpole and miss out but my race pace should be better tomorrow. I hope to have good starts and make up some places early in the race so that I can take away as may points as possible.
