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De Carolis takes pole!
Frenchman Lucas de Carolis held off a late charge by ‘wild card’ Fabrizio Pirovano to take pole position for tomorrow’s second round of the 2008 Suzuki GSX-R Cup at Monza. Despite it being his first time at the circuit, twenty-one year old De Carolis took to it almost straightaway. Behind Pirovano in third place is Spaniard Arturo Tizon, with Italian Simone Saltarelli fourth.
Lucas de Carolis - 1st, 1:53.051
“I am really happy to be the fastest rider today and take pole position, especially in front of Pirovano. Towards the end of qualifying, I could feel his presence on my rear end, but I was determined not to let him get past. I braked later then usual and managed to stay in front of him and that made me very happy.
This is my first time at Monza and when I first saw it, I thought ‘wow’, what an amazing circuit. We have nothing like this in France and it’s fantastic to be able to race here. Apart from learning the track, I’ve had no problems here. I’m enjoying the Suzuki Cup atmosphere and the chance to race in front of so many fans at a World Superbike weekend.”
Results Qualifying 2nd Session
Saltarelli leads the charge.
Italian Simone Saltarelli was the fastest rider in today’s first qualifying session for the second round of the Suzuki GSX-R Cup at Monza. His time of 1:54.562 was just over two tenths of a second ahead of his nearest rival Emeric Jonchiere. Third quickest today is Roland Resch, with Ismael Ortega fourth. Race legend Fabrizio Pirovano is a ‘wild card’ rider here at Monza and he finished the day with the fifth fastest time, though many of rivals believe that he was holding back today and will be the one to beat come raceday. A surprise ‘wild card’ entrant today is former GP star Jeremy McWilliams. The Irishman decided to try and help out Briton Grant Molloy and is experiencing Monza for the very first time, but enjoying every minute.
Simone Saltarelli - 1st, 1:54.562
“I raced here in the Italian championship, so I have plenty of good circuit knowledge. Everything went pretty well today, except that our rear sprocket was too long. Because the qualifying session is not too long, we didn’t have time to change it, but we’ll do that for tomorrow and I’m sure I’ll go faster. It’s great fun racing against Pirovano, but I’m sure that he’s being a bit of old fox today and he’ll show his true colours on raceday. After all, this is his home track and he’ll be going for a win for sure.”
Jeremy McWilliams - 15th
“I’m riding here to help out Grant (Molloy) but I am really having fun here, even though this is my first time at Monza. It’s a great track and I like it a lot because it is a proper racetrack and fast. This is a fun championship and being in it is like being in a big family.”
Results Qualifying 1st Session
McWilliams to replace Suzuki’s Bridewell at Monza.
Jeremy McWilliams will ride as a wildcard in this weekend’s second round GSX-R European Cup championship event at Monza in Italy. He replaces regular Team Suzuki GB rider, Tom Bridewell, who broke his leg at the opening Italian Superbike championship round at Mugello three weeks ago.
McWilliams’s last competitive outing was on the Ilmor at the opening MotoGP round in Qatar last year, although he did not race due to injury. He has been undertaking testing and development duties in recent months, as well as providing tuition with the Racedays Superbike Academy. He has never raced at the historic Monza circuit.
The famous 5.793km track – the oldest purpose-built facility in Europe – is nestled in a former royal park just 20km north of Milan and is renowned for its high-speed slipstream battles.
McWilliams has spent some time in recent months mentoring his fellow Ulsterman, Grant Molloy, who is partnering Bridewell in Team Suzuki GB this season. The 21-year-old picked up three championship points in the opening round at Valencia last month.
“I’m having a ride to try an impart some circuit knowledge to Grant and the two Racedays Superstock 600 riders, Danny Brill and David Paton.”
Said McWilliams as he prepared for this weekend’s racing.
“Monza is a truly historic track but I’ve never raced here. I might have to get Fabrizio Priovano to show me round!”
McWilliams and Molloy will be joined in Team Suzuki GB by another wildcard rider at Monza – Australian Brendan Clarke who has the distinction of being the youngest ever points scorer in 500cc/MotoGP.
This weekend’s GSX-R Cup action kicks off with 45-minutes of qualifying practice at 17.10 local time today, followed by a further 40 minutes on Saturday at 18.20. Sunday’s eight-lap (46.344km) encounter is scheduled to start at 14.20, immediately after the World Supersport championship race.
Noyes wins, Ortega leads.
Spanish resident Kenny Noyes continued his domination of the opening round of this year’s Suzuki GSX-R Cup at Valencia with a faultless start to finish victory in the 11-lap race. Despite strong winds, he controlled the race from the front and ran out the winner by over four and a half seconds. But Noyes is a ‘wild card’, so although he had the glory of standing on the top step of the podium, it is runner-up Ismael Ortega who gets the 25 points. Third place in the race was Austrian Roland Resch, with Spaniard Arturo Tizon third and Italian Simone Saltarelli fourth.
Kenny Noyes
“I got a good start, managed to pull out a bit of a gap quite soon and then maintained it to cruise home at the end. The biggest problem I had was the wind! It was so strong that it made it difficult to get the bike to turn in some of the corners. I had to really keep my concentration up because it would’ve been so easy to crash. I have enjoyed myself a lot over the three days and it’s been a great experience for all of us racing in front of a World Superbike crowd. The atmosphere has been great throughout and I hope I get another chance to do it again sometime.”
Ismael Ortega
“Kenny made a good start and once he was away, I concentrated on my own race because I knew he was a ‘wild card’ and couldn’t score any points. I had a good fight with Tizon and Resch and then moved into second place after four laps. The wind was very strong and it was hard to keep the bike heading in the right direction in quite a few corners, but I was determined to take second spot. The Suzuki Cup is a very enjoyable series and it’s good to race in front of so many fans. Already, I am looking forward to the next round.”
Points standing (after 1 round)
- Ismael Ortega 25
- Roland Resch 20
- Arturo Tizon 16
- Simone Saltarelli 13
- Lucas De Carolis 11
- Alessandro Colatosti 10
- Tom Bridewell 9
- Timo Gieseler 8
- David Juhasz 7
- Emeric Jonchiere 6
Results Race
Noyes remains in command.
‘Wild card’ rider Kenny Noyes continued his domination in qualifying for the first round of the 2008 Suzuki GSX-R Cup, taking pole position by a comfortable margin today. His lap of 1:39.857, was seven tenths of a second ahead of his nearest rival, Frenchman Lucas de Carolis. Third quickest is Spaniard Ismael Ortega, with fellow countryman Arturo Tizon fourth.
Kenny Noyes - 1st, 1:39.857
“We changed the bike quite a bit from yesterday - mainly the suspension but also the rear ride height so that the bike turned better. We also shortened the rear sprocket to get better drive out of the turns. The tyres gave surprisingly good feedback and when they do go off, they’re predictable. After spending some more time on the bike, I’m getting more and more used to it and now it’s certainly more fun to ride. I live in Spain, but I’m actually American, but it’s fun to get a ‘wild card’ ride here, though if I do win tomorrow, I wonder which national anthem they will play?”
Results Qualifying 2nd Session
Wild card noyes on provisional pole!
The 2008 edition of the very popular Suzuki GSX-R Cup kicked off today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, in Valencia, Spain and was dominated by two ‘locals’. Spaniard Kenny Noyes, riding as a ‘wild card’ used his circuit knowledge to good advantage, and his lap of 1:40.478, was over half a second quicker then his nearest rival, and fellow Spaniard, Ismael Ortega. Third quickest today is Austrian Roland Resch, with German Timo Gieseler fourth.
Kenny Noyes - 1st, 1:40.478
“Normally I ride a GSX-R 1000 bike in Formula Extreme, so it took me a little while to get used to this GSX-R 750. The session was not so long, so I concentrated on staying out on the bike and getting comfortable with it. This track is not difficult to learn, so I don’t think I had a big advantage over my rivals, but it’s important to have a good set-up if you want to turn in fast, consistent laps. I hope to improve on my lap times tomorrow and have a good race on Sunday.”
Results Qualifying 1st Session