Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) notched up the first Superpole of his career at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. The 35 year-old Spanish rider, in just his sixth race in SBK, powered his Honda CBR1000RR to a new record time of 1 minute 48.193 seconds around the spectacular 4.907 kilometre circuit. Just three tenths behind was recent Monza round winner Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare). The front row of the grid was completed by the Ducati Xerox factory pairing of Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio.
Troy Corser (Yamaha Italia) was quickest after the two qualifying sessions but was unable to repeat his performance in the Superpole session and just missed out on the front row. Lining up alongside the Australian will be Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Ducati), Regis Laconi (Kawasaki Corse) and Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare).
The third row of the grid for the two races is headed by Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who put in a good performance despite still recovering from his recent injury. The Italian finished a couple of tenths of a second ahead of a courageous Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Italia), who took part in Superpole despite a broken right collarbone from a crash in the morning's qualifying session.
Carlos Checa - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda - Superpole We worked well today, I had an incident this morning so there is always something to improve and something to fix. But finally I was so concentrated in the lap I did, I tried to be as clean and effective as possible. I know that I was able to be in the 48s but I didn't expect 48 low and when I saw that time it was a great surprise and a great satisfaction to be on the pole for the first time. Now the start tomorrow is the next step we need to improve! I will try to do a good race tomorrow, for sure we have some chance of winning because we have shown our potential in the last few races, and especially here. The bike is now working well and I'm also confident with the tyres, so you never know.
Superpole Best Lap
Superpole Highlights
Max Neukirchner - Suzuki Alstare - 2nd I'm really happy about the position and I think I did a great lap. I had some problems yesterday with the chassis and in particular I was losing a lot of time in the final split, but we found a good way to improve and we were much quicker than yesterday. I think we found a good race set-up and I hope I'm tomorrow I'm in front. Here on this track it's going to be really hard, the times are very close and I'm sure it'll be a big fight.
Troy Bayliss - Ducati Xerox - 3rd It was the best time I've done here at the Miller Motorsports track so far and I thought maybe my time would be good enough but I was actually half a second off in the end. It's always a good challenge coming to a new track and it will undoubtedly make for great racing. Everyone was riding well this afternoon in Superpole and Carlos (Checa) rode an incredible lap. Having said that, our weekend is progressing positively too, the bike is working well, the track is great and so things are looking good for tomorrow's races.
Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox - 4th I am very happy as to start from the first row for the second time this season is a great feeling. We will see tomorrow, I will have to fight for positions at the front against several very strong riders but this at least means that we'll be seeing some great racing. We've made some good progress between the sessions of yesterday and today and so I'm pretty confident for tomorrow. With regard to strategy for the races, I prefer to simply say 'no comment'!
Troy Corser - Yamaha Italia - 5th Our race set-up is pretty good, and we think we have chosen the tyres already. For the front we're sure and the rear feels pretty good for race distance. The bike is working really well and I just made a mistake by going back to first gear and not second in one corner during Superpole. But the second row is OK. It's going to be close and it will be important to get a good start. My starts have been generally good recently, so I'm happy about tomorrow.
Ruben Xaus - Sterilgrada Ducati - 6th I feel confident with tomorrow's race. I have found a good set-up for the bike in race trim and it gives me the power to be quick. I will start from the second line which is a good place to join the leading pack. I would like to thank the team because they have been wonderful today. I fell down just few minutes before the end of the free-practice but, thanks to their skilfulness, I could take part of the Superpole with a perfectly fine-tune bike.
Regis Laconi - Kawasaki PSG-1 - 7th We tried the new swingarm here and from the very first lap it was an improvement, a real step forward. It has almost eradicated the chatter we have been suffering. Sometimes there is a small amount of chatter but nothing like before. We tried it at Monza but it was not quite right so they modified it and now it's great. Now I can race and not just ride. I can push the bike around, I have a good corner entry speed and I can choose my lines. I am so happy the way things are right now, and to be close to the top feels fantastic. I made really good race pace over race distance, and I think we have a good race set-up.
Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki Alstare - 8th In the first sector, my bike had a nervous feeling and it was difficult to push as hard as I would normally. So I rode it a bit safely because I didn't want to crash, but that meant I lost some time and ended eighth. Today the final sector of the track was better than yesterday, but there are some places where my bike has a bit of a bumping feeling, so we will see if we can improve it in the warm-up tomorrow. I'm not happy with Superpole today, but the races are long and anything can happen tomorrow.
Max Biaggi - Sterilgrada Ducati - 9th We have improved both on the race pace and on the quickest time as I showed in the Superpole cutting 8 tenths off my qualifying second session time. We have done a finicky job on the set-up, therefore I feel confident about the two race of tomorrow. A good start will be crucial, then I will have to play my cards right in order to get the best final position.
Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha Italia - 10th We lost a lot of time after my crash in morning practice but I went out in Superpole and we got tenth. We are behind in the set-up but to set a 1:49 in Superpole with my injury was not so bad. The races are 21 laps so I am not sure how we will do. We have been doing a few laps at a time, so to do the full distance, and in hot conditions, we will just have to see how we go. I will be racing I just need to see how I am tomorrow before the start.
