World Superbike 2013 – Round Four – Monza
— Melandri flies his BMW to the top on Friday at Monza
Mixed weather did not prevent eni FIM Superbike World Championship riders from tackling most of today’s qualifying session on dry conditions, so they were able to get up to full speed at the super-fast Monza’s Autodromo Nazionale, following the rain that hampered the first part of the day.
The delay from the original schedule, caused by the presence of oil on the track from Supersport Qualifying 1, turned out in the end to be a good waiting for the riders.
Home-star Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) took the best out of the powerful BMW S 1000 RR to storm to first place with a lap-time of 1’42.883. The Italian is finally feeling comfortable with the front end of his bike and he’s looking forward to some more track time in order to find a proper set-up for race day.
Marco Melandri: “It is great to be back at the top. Today I had such a good feeling on the bike which I haven’t had for a long time, I am so happy. In the team, we are doing such a great job and I think we now really understand what went wrong at the beginning of the season. We struggled with the front part of the bike. It was not absorbing the bumps and it was difficult to turn, now this is much better. Of course, we still don’t have the perfect set-up, because 30 minutes track time in the dry is not enough. But we are starting from a good base and that means that we can fight for a good position at the end of the weekend.”
Following Melandri in 2nd place a revived Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike), who showed some good potential after the productive last week’s post-round test at Assen by finishing ahead of Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), who set an incredible top-speed of 333,6 km/h. The four-brand top-4 was completed by KRT Ninja ZX-10R of Tom Sykes, who lapped almost identically to the current Championship leader (0.011 seconds gap between 3rd and 4th place).
The ‘well-known’ top-speed performance of the RSV4 was also displayed by 6th place Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma), who recorded 331 km/h at the speed trap (matching Melandri’s) but was preceded by another private Aprilia rider, the fellow Roman Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing), and followed by works rider of Noale’s manufacturer Eugene Laverty. BMW’s mixed day saw Chaz Davies’ spectacular crash at Turn 10, that almost destroyed his bike.
Times: 1. Melandri (BMW) 1’42.883 average 202.144 kph; 2. Rea (Honda) 1’43.157; 3. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’43.510; 4. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’43.521; 5. Giugliano (Aprilia) 1’43.623; 6. Fabrizio (Aprilia) 1’43.849; 7. Laverty (Aprilia) 1’43.956; 8. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’43.961; 9. Camier (Suzuki) 1’44.106;10. Cluzel (Suzuki) 1’44.466; 11. Checa (Ducati) 1’44.763; 12. Badovini (Ducati) 1’44.823; 13. Davies (BMW) 1’44.992; 14. Neukirchner (Ducati) 1’45.855; 15. Sandi (Kawasaki) 1’46.336; 16. Lai (Kawasaki) 1’47.192; 17. Akiyoshi (Honda) 1’47.201; 18. Iannuzzo (BMW) 1’47.509; 19. Aitchison (Ducati) 1’47.521.
World Supersport – Kev Coghlan leads the way
World Supersport Qualifying 1 saw improving conditions throughout the 45 minutes on track, with a bit of sunshine popping out from behind the clouds in the closing stages. Scotsman Kev Coghlan (DMC-Lorenzini Kawasaki Team) proved to be very comfortable on a damp Monza Circuit by setting a 1’59.339 towards the end of the session to precede home rider Andrea Antonelli (Goeleven Kawasaki) and the reigning Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki).
While the top-3 managed to lap within the 1’59 bracket, following riders were far in terms of lap-times. Sheridan Morais (PTR Honda) rode his CBR600RR to 4th place ahead of Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport) and Luca Marconi (PTR Honda).
Rookie Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki), is joined this weekend at Monza by team mate and Italian Championship rider Stefano Cruciani, who finished right behind him in 8th place. Assen race winner Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) ended up only 13th, behind Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) and fellow English Christian Iddon (Parkingo MV Agusta Corse).
Times: 1. Coghlan (Kawasaki) 1’59.339 average 174.270 kph; 2. Antonelli (Kawasaki) 1’59.635; 3. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 1’59.728; 4. Morais (Honda) 2’00.977; 5. Zanetti (Honda) 2’00.996; 6. Marconi (Honda) 2’01.229; 7. Russo (Kawasaki) 2’01.261; 8. Cruciani (Kawasaki) 2’01.331; 9. Kennedy (Honda) 2’01.542; 10. Scholtz (Suzuki) 2’01.603; etc.
Superstock 1000
It was a delayed Qualifying 1 for the Superstock 1000 riders: after a technical problem occurred to
Mitchell Carr’s Triumph in the preceding Supersport session – that laid some oil on track – an extensive effort to clean the entrance of Turn 10 was required. Despite the time waiting, riders were paid back by an almost dry tarmac. Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Ducati) renewed their rivalry after Assen close battle to finish in 1st and 2nd position respectively.
La Marra’s team mate, 3rd place Niccolò Canepa, managed to stay within a second gap from the leader, following by Sweden’s Christoffer Bergman (BWG Racing Kawasaki) and Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki). Good qualifying 1 for wild-card Michele Magnoni (G.M. Racing BMW), back to Superstock 1000 after last year’s podium finish at Misano and 6th ahead of other Italians Marco Bussolotti (Rider Promotion by T. Trasimeno BMW), Lorenzo Savadori and Alessandro Andreozzi (Team Pedercini Kawasaki).
Different luck for another Pedercini rider, Leandro Mercado, who high-sided out of Turn 10 in the first half of the session, but was able to walk away from the track on his own feet despite visible pain.
Times: 1. Barrier (BMW) 1’47.726 average 193.056 kph; 2. La Marra (Ducati) 1’48.429; 3. Canepa (Ducati) 1’48.648; 4. Bergman (Kawasaki) 1’49.073; 5. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 1’49.077; 6. Magnoni (BMW) 1’49.105; 7. Bussolotti (BMW) 1’49.291; 8. Savadori (Kawasaki) 1’49.618; 9. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 1’49.666; 10. Jezek (Ducati) 1’49.857; etc.
Superstock 600
Championship leader Gauthier Duwelz (MTM Racing Yamaha) doesn’t want to leave anything to chance, even under the soaking wet conditions found in today’s Superstock 600 Qualifying 1 at Monza. The 19 year old from Sint Lambrechts Woluwe, Belgium, took advantage of slightly improving conditions during the last 20 minutes to start pushing for better lap-times.
Duwelz managed to put in a 2’06.536 towards the end to secure first place over Italian Federico D’Annunzio (PATA by Martini Yamaha), who was 2nd with just a 0.035 seconds gap ahead of fellow Italians Alessandro Nocco (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) and team mate Luca Salvadori. Salvadori proved to be at ease on wet conditions and was leading at some point, but fell off his YZF-R6 at Turn 3 with 10 minutes to go. The youngster from Milan quickly went back to the pits and was able to get a last attempt before the chequered flag.
Front runners in the last two rounds Bastien Chesaux (EAB Ten Kate Junior Honda), Tony Covena (Nito Racing Kawasaki) and Adrian Nestorovic (MTM Racing Yamaha) were far from the top and ended up 8th, 11th and 13th respectively.
Times: 1. Duwelz (Yamaha) 2’06.536 average 164.358 kph; 2. D’Annunzio (Yamaha) 2’06.571; 3. Nocco (Kawasaki) 2’07.012; 4. Salvadori (Yamaha) 2’07.087; 5. Mamola (Yamaha) 2’07.724; 6. Morbidelli (Kawasaki) 2’08.004; 7. Mercandelli (Yamaha) 2’08.707; 8. Chesaux (Honda) 2’08.945; 9. Tatasciore (Yamaha) 2’09.056; 10. Stizza (Yamaha) 2’09.083; etc.
European Junior Cup
Today’s Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda 45-minute Free Practice saw France’s Guillaume Raymond (Activebike) having the better of Augusto Fernandez (DS Junior Team) thanks to a 2’16.837 lap-time set on dry conditions at Monza.
Opening round winner Jake Lewis (Jake Lewis Racing) bounced back from Assen’s DNF to finish 3rd ahead of Kevin Manfredi (Newton Trasformatori) and Iranian Adrian Rusmiputro. Current Championship leader Michael Canducci (Colors Experience) was 10th at the flag with a 2-second gap from Raymond.
Times: 1. Raymond (Honda) 2’16.837 average 151.985 kph; 2. Fernandez (Honda) 2’17.101; 3. Lewis (Honda) 2’17.387; 4. Manfredi (Honda) 2’17.714; 5. Rusmiputro (Honda) 2’17.780; 6. Bodis (Honda) 2’18.067; 7. Fernandez (Honda) 2’18.445; 8. Sebestyen (Honda) 2’18.595; 9. Filippini (Honda) 2’18.705; 10. Canducci (Honda) 2’18.889; etc.b
