Donington: Series Friday notes

Bayliss leads the way at Donington as BSB riders make their mark

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) led the way in qualifying at a cold and wet Donington Park circuit as a group of British Superbike wild-card riders made a good impression on the first day of action. The 39 year-old Australian, who has never actually won at the Leicestershire track, clocked a time of 1 minute 44.377 seconds to hold the overnight pole from Brands Hatch winner Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).

The Japanese rider, British champion for the last two years, was one-tenth behind Bayliss in second but a fraction ahead of a trio of current BSB riders headed by Cal Crutchlow (HM Plant Honda), Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (HM Plant Honda).

The Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati pairing of Italian Max Biaggi and Ruben Xaus were next up in sixth and seventh, with two more Spanish riders Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Gregorio Lavilla (VentAxia Honda) filling the next two places, while another Brit James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) completed the top 10.

So far failing to make their mark are the Yamaha Motor Italia pairing of Troy Corser, who crashed twice in the morning free practice session and is in 12th, and Noriyuki Haga, down in 24th position, while the other championship contender Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) could only manage 23rd. Today's appalling weather conditions produced a total of 19 crashes involving 13 riders.

FIM Supersport World Championship

Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) dominated today's first Supersport qualifying session at his home circuit. The Northern Ireland rider set a quickest time of 1 minute 47.714 seconds to confirm his current run of race-winning form and become the rider to beat this weekend. Rea was four-tenths quicker than Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) of Australia while Italian Ivan Clementi (Triumph BE1 Racing) was the surprise of the day in third place. The provisional front row was made up of Matthieu Lagrive (Intermoto Czech Honda), ahead of Joan Lascorz (Glanermotocard.com Honda) and the best Suzuki of Barry Veneman (RES Software) on row 2. Championship leader Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) could only manage seventh place, ahead of Eugene Laverty of Ireland, standing in for the injured Fabien Foret in the Yamaha World Supersport team. Championship contender Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) was in difficulty today, crashing in the morning free practice session and ending the day with 29th quickest time.

Superstock 1000

Brendan Roberts (Ducati Xerox Junior Team) gained the early advantage over his chief title rival Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda) in the opening qualifying session for Superstock 1000. The Australian rider was quickest overall with a time of 1 minute 49.474 seconds, while the Frenchman could only manage eighth quickest time, more than 2 seconds down. Xavier Simeon (Suzuki Alstare) put in an excellent performance for provisional second and could also be a candidate for the win on Sunday. The provisional front row was completed by British wild-card Jon Kirkham (Raceways Yamaha) and Chris Seaton (Celani Suzuki). Three Italians line up on the second row with Alex Polita (Sterilgarda Ducati) ahead of Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni), Claudio Corti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) and Berger.

European 600 Superstock

First qualifying for Superstock 600 was an Anglo-Italian affair, with Marco Bussolotti (Yamaha Motor Italia Junior Team) grabbing provisional pole just a few hundreds of a second ahead of Britain's Gino Rea (Stonebaker Yamaha). The promising young Italian Davide Fanelli (Triumph Italia BE1) and championship leader Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team) of France took third and fourth slots. Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda), currently second in the championship, was way down the field in 25th position, while Danilo Petrucci (Trasimeno Yamaha) bruised his left elbow and wrist in a nasty crash.

On TV

Eurosport (Europe): Sunday 7 September, 1300 SBK Race 1 (live), 1400 SSP Race (live), 1915 SBK Race 2 (delayed).

British Eurosport (UK): Sunday 7 September, 1300 SBK Race 1 (live), 1400 SSP Race (live), 1915 SBK Race 2 (delayed).

-credit: worldsbk.com