Kawasaki WSB - Silverstone

NIETO JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP TEN AFTER TENSE SUPERPOLE FIGHT
Silverstone, Great Britain, 26 May 2007 - Having qualified seventh after the pre-Superpole sessions, Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) expected to make a similar showing in Superpole at Silverstone.
Nieto was ultimately disappointed to finish 11th quickest in what was a blistering Superpole contest, after finding that he had made a less than perfect tyre choice almost as soon as his out lap had started.

Nieto now knows that he needs to make two good starts in Sunday’s 28-lap races to get into contention for a top finish, but is prepared to meet the challenge of Silverstone head on, after finding good settings in race trim.

Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) also lost some time in Superpole and thus the Frenchman slipped to the fourth row. He has been experiencing set-up issues with chatter throughout practice and the use of a qualifying tyre increased the degree of the problem.

New third rider in the team Vittorio Iannuzzo (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) just missed out on Superpole qualifying by an impossibly small margin and starts Sunday’s 28-lap races from the fifth row.

Generally dry Superbike qualifying sessions were held at record pace from the start, with both regular PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders improving greatly on their best dry times from 2006, despite their drop in pace in Superpole.

FONSI NIETO: “We didn’t make the decision of which tyre to use in Superpole until the last minute because we were not sure if it was better to use a race tyre or a qualifier. We chose a qualifier but as soon as I got onto the track I knew I had probably made the wrong choice. I’m sure I could have done better on the other tyre. But I am satisfied with the work we did today and I have a good race pace. I hope it doesn’t rain on raceday because I can’t fully express my riding ability properly in the wet.”

REGIS LACONI: “I just want to forget Superpole. We have had problems in the regular sessions and with a qualifying tyre it just made things worse. It was hard to ride the bike but maybe tomorrow it will rain and that will change my situation quite a lot.”

VITTORIO IANNUZZO “From one side I am happy because I improved a lot and my fast lap wasn’t bad. From the other side I am upset because I missed Superpole by 18 thousandths of a second, just 30 seconds from the end of qualifying! It would have been great to get into Superpole but now I will concentrate on trying to bring home some points.”

FORET RECOVERS FROM CRASH TO SECURE TOP FIVE IN QUALIFYING
Silverstone, Great Britain, 26 May 2007 - After a sometimes-eventful final day of practice at Silverstone Fabien Foret (GIL Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) ended up fifth on the grid for Sunday’s 28-lap Supersport race.
Foret had taken a high-speed tumble in the untimed morning session, but recovered well to score a top five in the final pre-race rankings.

The 2002 World Champion and all his peers will probably find the circuit wet for the race, but in the final dry qualifying session today he was just over a second from pole.

Pere Riba (GIL Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) worked hard in qualifying as usual, going tenth on the timesheet and third in terms of starting rows. No less than 34 riders were contesting Supersport in the UK, giving Riba’s performance a positive perspective, despite being over 1.6 seconds from pole.

The weather may determine all for the race on Sunday with weather forecasts in the run-up to Silverstone all indicating the appearance of hard rains for the final day in England.

Fabien Foret: “We couldn’t get the best set-up in qualifying and I also lost a bit of confidence because I had a big crash this morning. I was a bit nervous after that. I hope we find something better in warm-up but maybe it will rain anyway. I am not 100% happy and we have to work very hard to try and make things better.”

Pere Riba: “Not so bad but in the end we were struggling with the settings on the bike a bit and by the time we made an improvement we had not enough tyre left to set a faster lap time. I am still working on the bike to get a better feeling from the front. The fact that I have raced a lot in the UK series at this track has not helped me as much as I hoped. Our times are really pretty good, but everybody is going fast here.”

LACONI SPARKLES IN FIFTH PLACE AT DISMAL SILVERSTONE
Silverstone, Great Britain, 27 May 2007 - Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) overcame the atrocious track conditions at Silverstone to record his best single result of the 2007 season so far, finishing fifth after 28-laps of high risk racing.
On a track surface flooded in some parts by the incessant overnight and morning rains, Laconi was able to jump up to tenth in the championship standings. He did not get the opportunity to repeat his top five feat because the second race was first delayed and then cancelled, such were the ferocity of the rains which showed up shortly before the scheduled start.

It was looking like a good day to gather points for Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) at one stage, as he was up to seventh before crashing out of contention on lap 22.

Nieto is now 13th in the overall rankings, with an unchanged 46 points.

Vittorio Iannuzzo (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R, the third rider in the PSG-1 set-up this weekend, ran out 11th, in a race which featured 13 finishers.

REGIS LACONI: “I have to think that that was a very good result considering that I started from the fourth row and that in these conditions it was a miracle to be able to finish the race at all. After a while the bike started to get unstable and I thought it was better not to push so much and try to just finish the race without taking any unnecessary risks. I have to thank the guys that gave me my signals today because the good communication allowed me to organize my advantage over those behind. I’m really glad to score fifth, it has been too long since I had a result like that.”

FONSI NIETO: “When it rains the race becomes a lottery for me! The last time we rode in wet conditions it was a disaster… This time things were going better even if I had to readjust my steering damper at the beginning to slacken it off. A few laps from the end I made a little mistake and that was that. Anyway, I’m OK because I was in a condition to make a good result. I was disappointed not to get another ace today - we come here to race.”

VITTORIO IANNUZZO “I’m glad because this is the first time that I can push hard with a bike in wet conditions. At the beginning I just tried not to slip and crash then I gradually improved the pace and the feeling was good. So I took home five points, not bad even if I would have liked to have been closer to the riders in front.”

FABIEN'S FOURTH HELPS HIS CHAMPIONSHIP CHALLENGE
Silverstone, Great Britain, 27 May 2007 - Fabien Foret (GIL Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) scored a strong fourth place in fully wet conditions at Silverstone to narrow the points gap to the long-term championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu, who was forced to retire after crashing.
Foret’s race started well but he fell back to eighth at one point, before his growing confidence in wet conditions lifted him to fourth at the flag. The race was shortened to 22 laps, from the planned 28.

Still second in the championship, Fabien is now 45 points behind Kenan Sofuoglu, with Fabien on 100 points to the Turkish rider’s 145.

Pere Riba (GIL Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) fell from third place on lap ten, having worked his way up from tenth on the grid in the early laps. He was looking good in what were treacherous conditions but he lost grip and slid off to finish with no points scored. He is now 12th overall in the points rankings.

Fabien Foret: “With Sofuoglu crashing the race was going to be good for me and I although I did not like the conditions I thought maybe it was best to concentrate on staying on the bike and getting some points. Then I realised that I felt good on the bike and pushed a bit harder, so I am happy with fourth. The guys in the pit box did a great job to give me such a good feeling from the bike after only the wet warm-up session was available for changes. I would have loved to have made a podium but it was better today to get the points.”

Pere Riba: “The front was OK in the rain but the feeling when I opened the throttle was not so good, and there was quite a lot of sliding. I am obviously not happy to crash, not happy at all, but at least I was up there fighting for a podium place when it happened.”


GIUGLIANO BRILLIANT UNTIL RAIN STOPPED PLAY
Silverstone, Great Britain, 27 May 2007 - Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) is something of a wet-weather expert and he was on track for a podium finish in Supersport until his machine’s electrics became affected by the incessant heavy rains on lap 14.
The Roman rider overcame some stiff early opposition and looked set to score his first top three of his short WSS career, after running clear of some much more experienced riders.

Giugliano had qualified 15th from 34 riders in dry conditions but really came into his own in the first lap of the race, improving nine places in one circuit of the 3.561km Silverstone track.

Davide Giugliano: “I was very happy and comfortable in the wet conditions and I really felt I could have taken a podium finish today. I don’t know what happened with the bike but it just started sputtering. When we got it back to the garage the bike started and ran again, so I think it must have been something to do with the water spray on the track.”

Well done guys That rain was real bad and just to finish was a great effort .