Team Suzuki Press Office – September 24. After being consistently in the top five throughout practice and qualifying at today’s Misano World Superbike 11th round, Team Alstare Suzuki rider Michel Fabrizio began experiencing front and rear-end chattering after putting on his qualifying tyres and was unable to push hard enough to secure what would have been his first front-row grid position of the year.
The Italian was disappointed that he will start tomorrow’s two 21-lap races from the third row and will once again will have to try and made good starts if he is to have any chance of chasing the podium.
Carlos Checa (Ducati) again took Pole – his sixth of the season – though this time it was by the narrowest of margins: Less than seven-hundredths-of-a-second separated him and Jonathan Rea (Honda) in second place. Third was Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) completing the front row line-up. Again, the top six bikes in Superpole were from six different manufacturers.
Michel Fabrizio – 11th, 1:48.126:
“I am frustrated with my Superpole. All weekend I have been in the top-five in the standings and I was feeling very positive about Superpole. My pace on race rubber has been consistently-fast and I was happy because my bike set-up was good. But, as soon as we put qualifying tyres on the bike, it behaved differently. I got bad chattering; so bad that I couldn’t work out if it was from the front or the rear, or maybe both! Because of this, I couldn’t push the bike harder and so couldn’t go fast enough to get into final Superpole and a chance of a front-row grid place.
“It’s been a disappointing end to the day and now I am once again facing the prospect of having to make two great starts if I am to have any chance of good results. Although the first turn seems a long way away, I still have to make super starts and try and be in the top-four going into the first chicane or otherwise I will get held up and it will be even more difficult. Hopefully, nobody will make a big break at the start and I can be with the leaders. It’s not just because this race is taking place in my home country; I want to do well in all races. Of course, there are lot of my fans here, so I would love to get on the podium tomorrow.”
Final Qualifying & Superpole: 1 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:47.196, 2 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:47.274, 3 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Aprilia) 1:47.442, 4 Tom Sykes (GBR-Kawasaki) 1:47.468, 5 Eugene Laverty (GBR-Yamaha) 1:47.929, 6 Leon Haslam (GBR-BMW) 1:48.081. 11 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Alstare Suzuki) 1:48.126.
