Yamaha Quietly Confident of Good Race Pace at Assen

Apr 28, 2007

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The Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team had mixed fortunes in today’s Superpole session but are confident of a good race tomorrow following a weekend of consistent lap times and good practice sessions.

Having made some adjustment alterations overnight Corser was confident of improving his provisional fifth place from yesterday. This confidence was rewarded with a move up to second place in this morning’s qualifying session. A small mistake on his Superpole lap saw Corser slip to sixth position.

Haga’s Superpole lap was looking good for a front row start until he almost lost the front tyre going into Mandeveen and had to take to the grass. He remained on board and re-joined the circuit but was unable to push for the remainder of the lap due to dirty tyres. Haga had been running in sixth place going into the Superpole session but had to accept the near miss putting him on the fourth row for his 137th race start with Yamaha.

Shinichi Nakatomi had less success in today’s qualifying when setting changes made prior to the morning’s session failed to improve the rider’s position. Even though Nakatomi managed to go almost half a second faster compared to yesterday’s qualifying, he dropped to 17th overall as other teams made more progress than the Team Yamaha YZF squad.

James Toseland will start in pole position with team mates Lanzi and Bayliss in second and third respectively. Biaggi rounds up the front row.

Troy Corser (6th - 1’39.422 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

“Superpole was disappointing, there’s no denying it. I made a small mistake on the back part of the circuit and went into one corner a bit fast and ran a bit wide. But the second row is okay, I’m confident in the lap times so I just need to get a good start tomorrow. I’m happy with the race set up and I have done several long runs on the tyres in free practice so I am comfortable with those. “

Noriyuki Haga (15th - 1’41.093 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

“I lost the front tyre at Mandeveen corner in the middle section of the lap and I had to pick the bike up to save it. Up until that point the bike had been feeling good, though we still need to make some suspension modifications - the data from the Superpole lap will help us with that. I am not thinking about the race win tomorrow right now, I just want to focus on getting our set-up completely sorted and adding to my championship points. “

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)

“I am still confident despite our Superpole results because we have been in the top five in practice all weekend. It will be okay for Troy because he starts from the second row and had more opportunity to push through to the front row. It will be more difficult for Nori but we have performed miracles in races before now. We will make some more adjustments overnight and I am sure we will be ready to race tomorrow. “

Shinichi Nakatomi (17th - 1’40.824 - Team Yamaha YZF)

“I am disappointed today after such a good start yesterday. We just need to continue working on our set-up tomorrow morning to see where we can make improvements. Seventeenth is not a good start but we must focus on finishing in the points now. “

Circuit Length: 4555

Temp: 24

Weather: Sunny

2007 WSB Assen 28/04/2007

Superpole

Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time

1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1’38.603

2 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1’39.226

3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1’39.256

4 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1’39.320

5 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1’39.411

6 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1’39.422

7 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1’39.648

8 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1’39.928

9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1’40.057

10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1’40.288

11 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1’40.328

12 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’40.376

13 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1’40.561

14 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1’40.674

15 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1’41.093

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