Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam took his first ever Superpole victory at Phillip Island today after consistently being in the top two or three throughout practice and qualifying.

The young Briton stormed to a lap of 1:31.229, over half a second inside the lap record, in Superpole 3, ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) and fellow Briton Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha). For a while it looked Leon’s team mate Sylvain would be joining him on the front row of the grid, but a late surge by Crutchlow, relegated the Frenchman to fifth place and row two.

Leon – 1st, 1:31.229
I am absolutely delighted to get my first Superpole victory but the results in the races tomorrow are more important. Sitting in the garage watching the other guys go round in final Superpole and seeing their times falling was more nerve-racking than being out on the track and riding and it was a great relief when it was over. When we use qualifying tires I have to use a slightly different riding style then when I am on race rubber.

Today once again we concentrated on getting a good race set up and did a lot of time on race rubber getting ready for raceday. From previous data we knew there was a certain way of working at this track to keep progressing and we did that rather than just chase any lap times.

My aim is to be in the first three in the first eight or nine laps and that will put me in a good position a good position at the end of the race. It is not what you can do in the first five laps, it’s what you do in the last five laps here that is most important
Although this is my first race weekend with the team, everyone is working together fantastically well. I have felt at home here at Suzuki Alstare since the very first time we tested and the boys have made my life easy.

Sylvain – 5th, 1:31.696
I thought I had done enough to get on the front row, but then I lost the position right at the end of final Superpole. It’s a bit disappointing because it would’ve been nice to be on the front row near my team mate and it would’ve been great for the team. But row two is OK and as long as I get good starts, I think I can get good results.

The important thing though is that I am really happy with the bike and how everything is going at the moment. I used race rubber in Superpole 1 and than qualifying tires in Superpole 2 and 3. I feel very comfortable on race tires and I am enjoying myself here.

Today we started with the same base set-up as yesterday and just made minor adjustments throughout the day. Also, I tried to improve the way I ride the bike and get more out of it, but I am just so happy at the moment and cannot wait for the races.

Phillip Island (Australia), Saturday 27th February : the first Superpole of the 2010 World Superbike season took place this afternoon at a breezy Phillip Island, and Ducati Xerox rider Michel Fabrizio was undoubtedly one of the protagonists, putting in a strong and consistent performance to snatch second place on tomorrow’s grid, and missing out on pole by just a fraction of a second. Team-mate Noriyuki Haga had a more difficult time, qualifying in tenth place for the opening races of the year. Of the first ten bikes on tomorrow’s grid, five are Ducati 1198s, yet another a demonstration of the bike’s competitiveness.

In this morning’s qualifying, and on a much cooler track compared to yesterday, the three fastest riders from yesterday, Checa, Fabrizio and Haslam did not manage to improve on their best times but they nevertheless held on the top three spots on the timesheet, qualifying first to third for the afternoon’s Superpole. Noriyuki, maintaining a similar pace to yesterday, preferred to work with a used tire than change to a fresh one in the final minutes to record a fast lap, meaning that he qualified for Superpole in fourteenth place. It is interesting to note that the fastest seventeen riders lapped within seven tenths of a second of each other, a sure sign that this year’s championship will be extremely hard fought.

As expected, Superpole was a close battle between the top eight. In the first of the three phases, 14 minutes in length, Nori immediately recorded a time fast enough for him to be able to return to the garage, safe in the knowledge that he had done enough. Michel meanwhile needed a tire change before his fastest lap propelled him up the timesheets to third place, to easily proceed to phase two along with his team-mate.

In the second mini-Superpole both factory riders went out on qualifiers, Michel making a fast lap and Nori changing tire mid-session. What seemed to be a clean lap for Haga unfortunately failed to equate to a fast enough lap, due to an apparent lack of rear grip which meant that Haga’s Superpole finished here, with the tenth fastest time of the afternoon, although only two tenths off Michel’s pace in the same session.

Michel, who still had a qualifier left to use in the final phase, pushed to the limit and it seemed that the pole position was within his grasp, but it all came down to a fraction of a second, with Michel ultimately closing in second place, just 0.016 of a second from Haslam on the Suzuki. Lining up in the first eight on tomorrow’s grid are also the Ducati 1198s of Checa (Althea Racing) in fourth and Smrz (Team Pata B&G Racing) in sixth.

Three-time world champion Troy Bayliss is once again special guest at the Phillip Island circuit this weekend and it was he who presented former team-mate Michel Fabrizio with his Superpole trophy today. Troy will continue to work as a Ducati “ambassador” in 2010.

Michel Fabrizio
“Today’s Superpole was very difficult but I am very happy with the final result. I lost out on the pole by just a fraction of a second which is a shame, but it’s not the first time that that has happened and the important thing is that I’m on the front row tomorrow. I was happy with my flying lap, a clean lap, with no-one in front of me. Tomorrow will be an equally difficult challenge, and various riders, me, Haslam, Checa, Biaggi and Nori will surely be in contention. We know we have a good race pace and I’m feeling confident for the races.”

Noriyuki Haga
“In the second phase of the Superpole I went out on a race tire but even though it felt like a clean lap, the time was not quick enough and unfortunately that put me out of the fight, and I finished tenth. Tomorrow I will of course need to make a fantastic start but I am confident that I am able to do that. I apologise to Ducati for the fact that I’m on the third row but I will, as ever, do my best in the races. Last year I started from 13th and won the race so I know it is possible to achieve a great result regardless of grid position.”

TIMES (Superpole): 1. Haslam (Suzuki) 1’31.2; 2. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1’31.2; 3. Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1’31.6; 4. Checa (Ducati) 1’31.6; 5. Guintoli (Suzuki) 1’31.6; 6. Smrz (Ducati) 1’31.7; 7. Rea (Honda) 1’21.9; 8. Toseland (Yamaha) 1’32.0; 9. Lanzi (Ducati) 1’32.3; 10. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1’32.7

Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro will both start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s opening 2010 World Supersport championship race at Phillip Island in Australia.

The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders set the second and third fastest times respectively in this afternoon’s final qualifying session, with Spain’s Joan Lascorz taking pole position and Ireland’s Eugene Laverty completing the front row as the third fastest Honda rider.

After struggling with grip and tyre durability in yesterday’s warm conditions at the 4.445km Phillip Island circuit, the World Supersport championship’s most successful team made progress in today’s cooler conditions and both riders are confident for tomorrow’s season-opening 21-lap race.

Kenan Sofuoglu – P2 1’34.116s

That wasn’t so bad and I am really much happier than I was after yesterday’s sessions. We have really improved our package today and I only hope that it stays cool for the race tomorrow. I think I could have gone faster but on both my fast laps I came across slower riders which took away my rhythm. I think maybe I could have taken three or four tenths off my time, but I am happy enough with a front row start. It’s important to get a good start tomorrow because I will try, of course, to win the race. We also found a way to get a longer life for the tyre today and I will do my best to save it for the end of the race tomorrow.

Michele Pirro – P3, 1’34.156s

Well, of course I am happy because I said yesterday that my target today was to get a front row start. We achieved this goal but I had some problems with grip at the front, especially on the corner exit. The bike is new for me this season so the race tomorrow will be my first. It’s difficult to know what to expect but, for sure, there are a lot of fast riders and they will be at the front in the race. I am looking forward to it, but the front row is a good place to start.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

Well, after the problems we had during the test here and yesterday, we put on a clean shirt today and made the improvements we needed.  Things really started to shape up for us today and I am delighted that both riders will start from the front row. Big compliments especially to Michele who has arrived immediately at the front in his debut for the team. Hopefully, both riders can finish the job off tomorrow.

2010 World Supersport championship, round 1 – Phillip Island, Australia (4.445km)

Final qualifying results:
1. Joan Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki 1’33.847s
2. Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’34.116s
3. Michele Pirro (ITA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’34.156s
4. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 1’34.300s
5. Katsuaki Fujiwara (JPN) Kawasaki 1’34.494s
6. David Salom (ESP) Triumph 1’34.873s

Less than three tenths of a second separated the top five riders after this afternoon’s opening qualifying session for this weekend’s first round 2010 World Supersport championship race at Phillip Island in Australia.

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider, Kenan Sofuoglu, set the third fastest time in this afternoon’s 45-minute session, which took place in temperatures of more than 30 degrees with a track temperature of almost 50 degrees. The Turkish rider was just 0.054s behind provisional pole sitter, Joan Lascorz.

Sofuoglu’s new team-mate for 2010, Michele Pirro, was fifth fastest today, his debut competitive outing for the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team. The 23-year-old Italian was less than two tenths behind his more experienced team-mate and only three tenths away from Lascorz’s time.

Kenan Sofuoglu – P3, 1’34.683s

I am actually very disappointed because it seems that we have only two tyre options and we are experiencing problems with both. We have a pretty good set-up to do a fast lap, but we have had to concentrate today’s time on trying to make the tyres last. I know I can probably go 0.5s faster but there is no point going for that. We don’t have many ideas for a solution right now, but we will all sit down later and try to come up with some ideas for tomorrow.

Michele Pirro – P5, 1’34.918s

The times are very close so I am not so unhappy with my performance today. The bike is not perfect, however, and we have worked hard to find the right set-up and tyre choice for the race on Sunday. Tomorrow we will try some different ideas to get the tyre to work better and I will try very hard for a front row starting position.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

We have spent a lot of time today trying to find a good race set-up. Although we’re not far off, there is still a lot more to come. We have both riders fully up there and we’re confident that things will improve both tomorrow and on Sunday.

2010 World Supersport championship – round 1
Phillip Island, Australia – 4.445km
1. Joan Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki 1’34.629s
2. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Honda 1’34.634s
3. Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’34.683s
4. Katsuaki Fujiwara (JPN) Kawasaki 1’34.783s
5. Michele Pirro (ITA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’34.918s
6. Chaz Davies (GBR) Triumph 1’34.939s

Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 26th February : The World Superbike Championship officially got underway at Phillip Island today and, for the Ducati Xerox team and riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio, results of the first qualifying session were very positive, Fabrizio propelling himself to second place on the timesheets and Haga concluding in fifth.

After the very encouraging results of the recent tests held here last weekend, Michel closing fastest and Noriyuki in sixth, the team returned to work today in a motivated and enthusiastic frame of mind.

In the early afternoon the Superbike riders took to the tracks for the first free practice session. Faced with hotter track temperatures (circa 45°C) compared to those of last week’s test, both Noriyuki and Michel continued to work on the set-up of their Ducati 1198 machines. Both riders concentrated on tyre durability, trying to find the best set-up on used tyres. Michel was victim of a crash mid-session caused by an unexpected lack of grip at the front on entry into a corner, the asphalt was extremely slippery due to the heat. Having lost valuable time, the Italian rider exited on his second bike but was unfortunately unable to record a very fast lap, closing the session in 11th. Noriyuki made his fastest lap near the start of the session, closing in seventh place, but confident.

Later on, in the first qualifying session, the two factory riders significantly improved on their times , lapping consistently fast and towards the end of the session, on soft compounds, they both registered times that left them both happy and in the top five. Noteworthy performances also came from Carlos Checa and Shane “Shakey” Byrne (Althea Racing), they too riding the 1198, who finished the session in first and fourth placed respectively.

Michel Fabrizio 1m32.1s
“We tried different tyre solutions this morning and various setting solutions in agreement with my engineer. I had a fall, losing the front, but without causing myself, or my bike, too much damage fortunately. Then in the qualifying session we found a good direction with the tyre solution that may well be the one to choose for the race; the results were quite encouraging. During my fast lap I lost a couple of tenths through the last corner but I’m happy; we’ve worked well and I’m satisfied with the results. We have a good race pace but a lot will depend on Sunday’s weather.”

Noriyuki Haga 1m32.7s
“We’ve tested the different rear tyres that Pirelli make available to us this weekend but we are still undecided as to which will have the best durability in these hot conditions. Tomorrow we’ll try a different solution for the setting but overall I’m happy. The lap times have been consistent but today was very hot and although I felt I could have pushed a little more, I didn’t want to risk it, also because I saw that several riders crashed.”

TIMES: 1. Checa (Ducati) 1.32.1; 2. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1’32.1, 3. Haslam (Suzuki) 1’32.3; 4. Byrne (Ducati) 1’32.6; 5. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1’32.7; 6. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1’32.8; 7. Rea (Honda) 1’32.8; 8. Guintoli (Suzuki) 1’32.9…

Valentino Rossi took pole for the second race running at Donington Park this afternoon, his fourth of the season and the 56th of his career. Jorge Lorenzo qualified third and, with four poles for him also this year, the Fiat Yamaha Team has now taken the front grid slot in eight out of the ten races. It is also the fifth consecutive race at which both riders have been on the front row.

After yesterday’s downpours, today was dry with sunny intervals and this morning saw Lorenzo second and Rossi third as they got their first chance to work on their dry settings around the 4km track. In this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying session Lorenzo held pole position for most of the session until briefly surrendering it to Dani Pedrosa ten minutes from the end, whilst Rossi struggled slightly to find the best set-up with the hard Bridgestone tire.

22-year-old Lorenzo moved back to the top just a couple of laps later but was then edged off by Rossi with three minutes to go, as the Italian found his best form at the perfect time. The Spaniard was unable to match the pace of his championship-leading team-mate with the soft tire and finished 0.286 seconds adrift, whilst a strong charge from Dani Pedrosa edged the Spaniard into third but was not good enough to knock Rossi off pole.

Tomorrow’s race will start at the later time of 1530 local time, which is 1630 CET.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 1st Time: 1′28.116 Laps: 32
“I am quite surprised to be on pole today because we had a couple of problems this afternoon! This morning unfortunately we didn’t try the hard Bridgestone tire but we weren’t worried because everyone else had good grip with it. But this afternoon when we finally tried it we found the grip to be not as we expected and our pace with it wasn’t so good. We made some modifications and improved it a bit, then we made a few more and used the soft tire again and then we were very quick. Like that I could ride the bike how I wanted and it felt great, fast and flowing so this was a good job from the team. We need to do some work to improve our pace with the hard tire, and then we just have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow. Whatever happens, we’re starting from the front and this is the most important thing.”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 3rd Time: 1′28.402 Laps: 35
“With the harder tire, we’re definitely ready and I feel very good on the bike. With the softer tire and on my last run I wasn’t so fast, but we are not too concerned about this. Anyway I feel confident on my M1 and I am enjoying riding here. Tomorrow we don’t know about the weather but I was fast also in the rain yesterday so I know that I can be competitive even if the weather is bad. I am really hoping for a good race here since it’s the last time we will come.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“At the end everything worked out okay and we got a nice pole position, the second in a row. We still have some work to do to improve the race setting to finalise the package in case we have dry conditions tomorrow, but we have the warm-up in to try to fine-tune everything. It looks like it’s more likely that it’s going to rain however, in which case we will use what we learned yesterday.”

Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager
“We are on target, because starting from the front row will be very important for this race. Today we concentrated mostly on our race setting and Jorge’s pace is very fast and consistent. Maybe we should have considered something a bit different for qualifying with the softer tire, but the most important thing is that we’re in good shape for the race. We hope that we can have the same weather as today tomorrow, but if the rain does come then we have yesterday’s good session to help us.”

Edwards and Toseland confident ahead of British battle
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland will do battle in the last British MotoGP race to be staged at Donington Park from sixth and ninth on the grid respectively.

Edwards secured his seventh top six qualifying result of the season with a best lap of 1.28.865, the American using dry and warm conditions to further evaluate new front fork settings and a revised body position on his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine.

Bidding to score a third MotoGP podium at Donington Park in tomorrow’s 30-lap race, Edwards was one of only seven riders to lap within a second of Valentino Rossi’s impressive pole position pace.

Toseland gave his hopes of a scoring a top six finish in front of a passionate home crowd a huge boost this afternoon. Working closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team crew to improve the setting of his YZR-M1 machine, the 28-year-old performed superbly to equal his best qualifying result of the season.

A lap of 1.29.270s was just 1.154s away from pole position and Toseland was just over four-tenths-of-a-second away from a top six spot on the grid after he’d been as high as fifth position on the timesheets.

The British rider is confident of fighting for his best result of the season, though all eyes will be on the skies tomorrow, with a repeat of the rain that disrupted yesterday’s practice forecast for the race.

Colin Edwards – Position: 6th Time: 1′28.865 Laps: 30
“I’m happy with the way I rode but getting close to those guys at the front is getting tough. They are running a pretty fast pace but I’m confident if I can get a good start that I’ll be able to stay with them for the race. If I can get away with them then they might pull me around for a few laps. I’m moving in the right direction with the setting and the changes we’ve made to the front forks and experimenting with my body position has improved the front feeling. But with no testing now it is difficult to get used to something so different quickly and I just need a bit more time to adapt because I know we can make the feeling much better. I’m still not sure which race tire I’m going to run. I’d like to have the best of both compounds on one tire. We need the left side of the softer tire and the right side of the hard one. But deliberating that might be for nothing because I hear we’re probably going to be under water here tomorrow anyway on rain tires. We got some time in the rain yesterday so I’m happy I’ve got a set-up for rain or dry conditions. I really want a good result with it being the last British GP at Donington Park. I’ve had a lot of success here in the past and it would be good to sign off in style.”

James Toseland – Position 9th Time: 1′29.270 Laps: 30
“I’m happy but at the same time a little bit frustrated because we didn’t have a really good base setting this morning. That meant we had quite a bit of work to do this afternoon, but thanks to my guys because they did a great job again. I improved quite a bit but if we had started this morning like we ended this afternoon then I’m sure I could have qualified on the second row. The base set-up didn’t work so well because we were too hard on the front and rear. I didn’t have much feel at all and I was only doing low 1.32s, so to do 1.29s this afternoon I’m really happy. At least I’ve given myself a good chance of battling for that top six tomorrow and that was always my target. Today was definitely better than last year’s qualifying, although it couldn’t really have been much worse. The new electronics are working brilliantly round here, particularly out of the slow hairpins at the end of the lap, so I’ve got say thanks to Yamaha for that again. Obviously I’m desperate t o get a good result tomorrow. I want to make amends for the disappointment of last year and give the British fans something to cheer about. The support out there today was amazing, and they deserve a good result. I can promise them I’ll be giving it my absolute maximum.”

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden will ride for potentially the final time at Donington Park tomorrow, with the British Grand Prix set to move to Silverstone next year. The Australian and the American start from fourth and fifteenth place respectively on the grid after qualifying practice was held in dry and warm conditions this afternoon. Stoner’s chance of a front row start were spoiled with a front-end crash halfway through the session, whilst Hayden struggled to find grip in the dry conditions despite an impressive showing in the wet during yesterday’s opening free practice. Unsurprisingly, neither rider would be disappointed to see the local weather forecast of rain for tomorrow afternoon bear out.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (4th ; 1’28.446)
“I’m a bit frustrated because I think we could have been on the front row today but considering everything, fourth place isn’t that bad. It was actually a really difficult day for us, we had a few problems this morning, we have struggled to find the good feeling with the bike that we’ve had in the last few races, but we modified the set-up for the afternoon and things felt better, allowing me to go fast from the start. We were trying a different configuration on each bike but unfortunately about halfway through the session, when we were trying something with the front, I crashed and damaged my number 1 machine and that obviously made things worse. We didn’t have enough time left to transfer that setting onto the second bike so we managed to improve a little on the soft tyre but it still wasn’t enough. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow and to try to get as many points as possible. I’d almost prefer it to rain because it would be better for my physical condition”.

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (15th; 1’30.268)
“It hasn’t been a very productive day for us at all. We’ve struggled a lot to get feel into the bike, especially on the left side it has been a problem getting enough heat into the tyres to give me good feedback. My qualifying lap was only an improvement of about a second on my first run this morning, which was our first time on the track in the dry, and obviously that’s not good enough. I did a pretty poor job today at the end of qualifying and probably stayed out too long when I had another soft tyre I could have come in and changed to, but time was running out. I also had a little clutch problem there at the end, which didn’t help but the bottom line is we haven’t been fast enough all day. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for rain tomorrow. I’ll be sorry for the fans if it does but selfishly we might need it!”

LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet will start tomorrow’s UK Grand Prix from the fourth row following today’s qualifying session at Donington Park race track which hosts the tenth round of the season before 2-weeks summer break. The French rider rode his Honda RC212V to the 10th place with a best lap time of 1’29.434 as he could not take a big advantage from the soft tires at the 4.023 Km race track.

After yesterday’s mixed conditions opening day of the British GP, this morning free session was conducted in the dry and the hour long qualifying session was ridden in the same condition with ambience temperature of 21°C (31°C on the asphalt). However the 28-year-old was unable to feel comfortable on the bike as he is not a fan of the British track. Today’s poleman is Rossi followed by Pedrosa and Lorenzo.
De Puniet – 10th – 1’29.434

De Puniet -10th: “Well … it hasn’t been an easy day for me and I always struggle to set my pace on this track especially in the last two corners. Since the beginning of this week end we had some issues to understand why we could not keep the pace of the front group. We have been focused in the last part of the track because that’s where it seems we lost too much time. We tried to improve the machine between the two sessions and I did my best to suit my riding stile to these corners for winning some tenths. Honestly we expected a third row start but I am still hoping for a top eight end”.

Pedrosa lead the time sheets yesterday and again today but by the end of the final Qualifying session at Donington Park today it’s Rossi who sets the fastest lap.  He’s impressive that’s for sure, Pedrosa manages to split the Yamaha’s and Stoner gets pushed to fourth.

Final Qualifying Results:

MotoGP Free Practice Two: