Round 4 - Monza, Italy - Saturday qualifying

2003 World Superbike Championship - Round 4
Monza, Italy - Saturday, 17th May - Qualifying

FRUSTRATION FOR TROY

Small problems made the final day of qualifying at Monza a very frustrating day for Troy. Throughout the two days, Troy had experienced some oil leaks and so never completely managed to push his hardest and set a really quick lap time. The bike was down on acceleration as well and Troy found it very hard top match the lap times of his rivals at the super-fast 5.793 kilometre circuit. A slight sprinkling of rain three quarters the way through the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out, caused all the laps up to then void and the riders were then given a 'Wet Superpole' session. All the riders were given fifty minutes in which to complete a maximum of twelve laps and Troy ended up eleventh on the grid. Series leader Neil Hodgson (Ducati) stole pole position from local hero Frankie Chili just two minutes from the end of the session with a lap of 1:46.981 - the faster two-wheeled lap of Monza ever recorded.

Troy:
It has been a very frustrating couple of days and I never had a chance to really go for it. Our bike is losing out on acceleration and taking too long to get to its top speed and that's hurting us a lot. I've been having to try and make up for that by riding flat-out in the cornersWe've changed the gearbox ratios, but so far I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. Also, I've had some oil leaks and that caused me to lose my confidence in the bike a little. Monza is not the kind of track I would want to have a crash. The plus side is that I did my best time on a race tyre and that I know what tyres I will use in tomorrow's races. This bike has never been here before, so we had no information or data from before. We have to just try and catch up as best we can. Tomorrow is going to be a long, hard day

Saturday qualifying

1 Hodgson (GB - Ducati) 1:46.981; 2 Chili (I - Ducati) 1:47.096; 3 Toseland (GB - Ducati) 1:47.502; 4 Laconi (F - Ducati) 1:47.537; 5 Lavilla (E - Suzuki) 1:47.964; 6 Pedercini (I - Ducati) 1:48.281; 7 Walker (GB - Ducati) 1:49.003; 8 Iannuzzo (I - Suzuki) 1:49.350; 9 Borciani (I - Ducati) 1:49.829; 10 Gramigni (I - Yamaha) 1:50.172, 11 Corser (AUS-Foggy FP1) 1:50.244...