Kyalami: Ducati Saturday notes

FABRIZIO (DUCATI XEROX) MISSES OUT ON POLE POSITION BY ONE THOUSANDTH OF A SECOND AT KYALAMI

Kyalami (South Africa) Saturday 16th May: Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), fastest again on board his Ducati 1198 in second qualifying this morning, was robbed of his first pole position by an incredible thousandth of a second this afternoon at Kyalami. In a thrilling edition of Superpole, Michel looked like he would reign supreme, ahead of the pack in the final minute, but then in the final seconds Yamaha man Spies lapped a fraction of a second faster than the Italian to take his sixth consecutive pole of the season. Noriyuki Haga, having qualified for today's Superpole in eleventh place, picked up the pace on qualifying tires to snatch fourth and a precious front row place alongside Michel, in second, and Biaggi, in third, for tomorrow's races.

In the morning's qualifying session, despite not improving on his fastest time of yesterday, Italian rider Michel Fabrizio was once again the fastest rider on track and was also the most consistent, putting together a string of laps in under 1m39 to qualify for Superpole in first position. Hot on his heels this morning was the British Superbike contingent with Haslam, Rea and Sykes qualifying in second, third and fourth for the afternoon's Superpole. Noriyuki Haga qualified safely for Superpole but in eleventh place, having spent time making further modifications to identify a more advantageous setting to try during tomorrow's warm-up.

Michel Fabrizio 1m37.2s
"I thought I'd done it today, I really thought I'd got my first Superbike pole, but it wasn't to be and Ben beat me by just a thousandth of a second. I am very happy with my performance today but of course it's a pity I missed out on the pole by such a fraction. We have a good race pace and I've been really consistent with my lap times up until now, so I hope that me, and Nori too, can be up there fighting at the front for the wins here tomorrow. I really enjoyed the racing at Monza last week and I know that this great track will be the setting for two similarly exciting races tomorrow."

Noriyuki Haga 1m37.5s
"We've spent the day trying to solve the same issues that we suffered from yesterday, as the bike is still causing me problems on the uneven track surface. We still have more work to do in order to be competitive for the races. I managed to do some good laps in Superpole but these were on a qualifier of course which is totally different. Anyway overall I am happy to be on the front row and I hope my arm doesn't hinder my performance too much over race distance."

-credit: ducati