Laguna Seca: Foggy Racing Friday notes

Corser on the pace at Laguna Seca Troy Corser signalled his intent for round seven of the Superbike World Championship with a controlled first day of qualifying at Laguna Seca. The Australian stayed in the top three places for most of the ...

Corser on the pace at Laguna Seca

Troy Corser signalled his intent for round seven of the Superbike World Championship with a controlled first day of qualifying at Laguna Seca.

The Australian stayed in the top three places for most of the opening day's action at the challenging Californian circuit. He ended the afternoon session seventh fastest, with Steve Martin setting the pace with a time of 1:27.396, as a host of other riders opted to use qualifying tyres for their fastest laps.

Team-mate Chris Walker was hampered by a succession of technical problems and was only able to complete 14 laps in the morning session. He finished 13th fastest, a second behind Troy's best time of 1:27.903.

Troy said: "I am as fast as anyone out there on race tyres, so today has been not too bad and I have saved my qualifiers for tomorrow. My lap times have been consistent as well, although we have still not made decisions on race tyres for the front or rear. We can still improve the set-up of the bike but a lot is down to the tyres sliding, especially on the straights that have kinks, and you cannot stop that with changes to the suspension. I changed the gearing from the morning to make it shorter going up the hill, and that helped."

Chris said: "Today has been very hard work for not a lot of reward. But you do get days like this and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I just got into my stride for the last half a dozen laps but by that time the session was over. We have a direction for tomorrow by shortening the gearing, which will shorten the wheel base and improve grip. We also want to try a modification to the rear shock."

Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship, round 7, Laguna Seca, USA: 1 Martin 1:27.396; 2 Chili 1:27.414; 3 Laconi 1:27.593; 4 Vermeulen 1:27.625; 5 Haga 1:27.729; 6 Toseland 1:27.787; 7 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:27.903; 8 Borciani 1:27.908; 9 Pedercini 1:28.016; 10 Sanchini 1:28.269; 13 Walker 1:28.929

Friday morning free practice times: 1 Borciani (DFX) 1:27.868; 2 Haga (Renegade Ducati) 1:28.123; 3 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:28.201; 4 Martin (DFX) 1:28.216; 5 Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:28.478; 6 Clementi (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 1:28.845; 7 Pedercini (Team Pedercini) 1:28.882; 8 Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:28.907; 9 Chili (PSG-1) 1:29.014; 10 Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) 1:29.133; 12 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:29.280