With no dry track time yesterday, the riders started to
work with dry set-ups and learn how to ride the 4.110 kilometre
Vallelunga circuit in the dry. The afternoon free practice was
disrupted by a power cut and the twenty-five minutes or so lost
because of TV scheduling for Superpole then took place after Superpole
had finished. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) stormed to his seventh Superpole win of the
season, with Troy Corser (Yamaha) second, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) third
and Max Biaggi (Ducati) fourth. Max finished with the sixth fastest
time, with Yukio eighth and Fonsi tenth.

Max - 6th, 1:37.427
I had a little problem with grip in Superpole, lost some time and that
stopped me from a front row grid place. Most of my rivals tested here
before and they had dry track data to work with straightaway, whereas
I had to start from scratch. Having said that, I don?t think we did
too bad today and I am happy with my set-up for tomorrow. Grip may be
a problem in the races, but if all goes well, I see know reason why I
cannot get a podium or two.

Yukio - 8th, 1:37607
Because I could not get good grip out of my qualifying tyres, I used
regular race rubber in Superpole instead. So, I think eighth is not
good, but it?s not so bad either. Second row is not too bad here, but
I need to make good starts tomorrow. Because yesterday was so wet, we
had to find a good dry set-up from the start of today and we were at a
bit of a disadvantage compared to some other riders because they have
tested here before and we have not. There is still some work to do to
make the bike more comfortable to ride round this track and we will
have to try and work on the engine characteristics as the bike feels a
bit peaky to ride at the moment - and that is not so good. If we can
improve this in the warm-up, I think I can make some good races, but I
am optimistic that this can be done.

Fonsi -10th, 1:37.820
Well I guess this is almost my normal, third row, grid position, after
yet another Superpole that has not been so good for me. I need two
good starts tomorrow and be in the front group as soon as I can if I
am to get good results. In Superpole, I was getting some movement at
the rear end and that made life a bit difficult exiting the corners.
At the end of the free practice (the one that took place after
Superpole) the temperature dropped quite a bit and that affected the
grip a lot. We?ll do some work on the electronics in the warm-up and
try and improve the bike so that I can ride it harder and faster. If
we cannot improve the bike much, it?s going to be along, hard day for
sure.


Final qualifying
1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:36.606, 2 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:36.730, 3
Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:36.915, 4 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:37.134, 5 Kiyonari (J-
Honda) 1:37.342, 6 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:37.427, 7
Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 1:37.550, 8 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare)
1:37.607, 9 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:37.692, 10 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki
Alstare) 1:37.820