Second Row For Yamaha Motor Italia Pairing
Yamaha Motor Italia duo Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga bagged second row starts during today's superpole qualifying session for round two of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.
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 Round: 2 - Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 4 March 2006 Temp: 37ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Italia duo Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga bagged second row starts during today's superpole qualifying session for round two of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island in Australia. Having ended combined qualifying with Haga third and Pitt sixth, the pairing was a little disappointed at being unable to maintain their positions on the soft tyres used for superpole but satisfied with their performances in race trim. After struggling to find a good balance for his R1 in yesterday's opening qualifying session, Pitt's crew completely revised the machine's settings for today's practice. Their work paid dividends with the Australian carving a massive 1.3 seconds from his Friday time in the Saturday afternoon, lifting him from 16th to sixth in the timesheets with a 1:33.567 lap time. However, on his grid deciding superpole lap, Pitt was one of the few riders not to better his time from the two one-hour sessions, losing one place with a fractionally slower 1:33.598. Team-mate Haga was another rider unable to improve his lap. His 1:33.631 superpole lap was two-tenths of a second slower than his time from regular qualifying, dropping him five places on the grid - from third to eighth. The Japanese rider had made many changes to the rear suspension on his machine in a bid to improve traction in the sweltering conditions and, despite his team working late into the night and trying many different shock and swingarm combinations, Haga was unable to find a perfect setting for his qualifying lap. The team is expected to make further adjustments this evening ahead of tomorrow's two 22-lap races. Yamaha Motor France rider Norick Abe starts tomorrow's races from 17th position after missing out on superpole by less than a tenth of a second. The Japanese rider continued to experience set-up problems, as did team-mates Sebastien Gimbert and Shinichi Nakatomi. Gimbert ended the day 21st after being baulked on his flying lap, while world championship rookie Nakatomi took over a second off his Friday time to end the day in 24th. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) took pole position with a 1:32.159 lap time. Troy Corser (Suzuki), James Toseland (Honda) and Steve Martin (Petronas) complete the front row. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "We've improved a lot today although we're still not quite there yet. It'll be a hard race as we're struggling for traction but, with the exception of Bayliss and Corser, I think everyone's in the same boat. We can do six or seven quick laps and then it drops off, so we'll try to improve it further overnight. I thought I did a pretty good lap, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw my time. It could be a lot worse though. Second row's not the end of the world and we can get a good start from there." Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "We did a good job today. We tried many different things today although the feeling is still quite similar to yesterday and we couldn't quite get a good setting for the superpole. I made a small mistake on my superpole lap but it is ok. Tomorrow we will try a few more things. It will be hard but I know that we are always stronger in the race than in qualifying." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "We have less grip than when we tested here in January. Probably this is down to the increased temperature but it means that we must change the settings of the bike. We are still looking for grip. I am disappointed to miss out on superpole for the second week in a row. We are a little down on power and must try to find some improved settings overnight." Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "I am not happy because 21st is not my normal position. A rider exited the pits and cut in front of me as I attacked my fastest lap and this probably cost me about four-tenths-of-a-second, so I am sorry to be so far back on the grid. We made some improvements today. We changed the brake discs and this was better, and we managed to reduce the chatter. We have to work and improve the set-up overnight though, as we have still to match our performance from our test here. The front is still moving around a lot and I am down on top speed compared to the fastest riders." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I'm not happy to end the day so far down. We have a problem with chattering, as well as some other small things. We changed the settings in the afternoon and I hope we can find some more improvements this afternoon." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "After our strong performances in Qatar we have found it a little bit more difficult than expected here. I am still confident about tomorrow though. We know what Nori can do in the race while Andrew will have a boost from riding at his home track." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "When we tested here in January we were using the 2005 tyres and although the new specification Pirellis perform better, they also create more chatter with these settings. As a result we have been almost able to match our performances with from the test but not improve on them. Because of the early start to the season we have had to use 2005-specification engines and because the level is much higher this season we have not been able to make the superpole today."
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