Round 3 , Valencia (Spain), Friday 22nd April 2005, 1st Qualifying
Circuit: 4.005 kms. Weather: dry, mostly sunny, 20-25 C.

TROY LEADS THE WAY - AGAIN!

The first day of qualifying for the third round of the 2005 Superbike World
Championship was business as usual for Troy and his team. It was no big surprise
to see Troy top the standings on day one, but the gap between him and his
nearest rival was a bit of a shock because it was over three quarters of a
second! And, what’s more, Troy had done the time comfortably! Troy knew the
track temperature would rise in the afternoon (timed) session, so he put his
qualifier on early and posted a lap of 1:35.954. As the temperature rose, the
grip level went down and nobody was able to get anywhere near Troy. His nearest
rival ended up being Chris Walker on the Kawasaki, followed by Frankie Chili and
his Honda team mate Max Neukirchner. Troy’s team mate Kagayama was second
fastest in the morning session, but then dropped to sixth when the track became
hotter in the afternoon. Reigning champion James Toseland (Ducati) finished
twelfth quickest today, after deciding to try and find a perfect race set-up
instead of chasing a time.

TROY - 1st, 1:35.954

I’m not saying that today was easy, but it wasn’t so hard. We started off with
the same set-up we used here in the tests and just kept trying to improve
things. We also learned quite a lot in Phillip Island and began to put some of
those ideas into practice bit by bit. It would’ve been easy to make a lot of
changes in one go, but we resisted that urge and didn’t rush it today. I think
there were a lot of people charging around today, changing too much too soon and
suffering as a result. I set a pretty reasonable time this morning and then said
to myself ‘Whoa, steady on. Don’t show too much, too soon.’ I eased off a little
after that and then managed to do a pretty good time early in the afternoon
(timed) session. I knew that the grip was getting worse, so I got the time in
and then left everybody else to try and better it. I didn't really expect
anybody to go quicker because of the conditions and nobody did. I had a bit of
a ‘moment’ today when I lost the front in turn three, but recovered OK. I guess
it was a ‘small moment’, not a big one. I think our bike is the best out there
at the moment and the balance of it is just right for me. It was working well at
Phillip Island and normally, if a bike works well there, it works well
everywhere. I’m sure the pace is going to quicken tomorrow - and then there is
the question of the temperature when Superpole is on. It could be quite a tricky
Superpole for all of us, but I’d like to think I could still be on top at the
end of tomorrow. See ya,
Troy.

Friday qualifying:

 1 CORSER (AUS-ALSTARE SUZUKI CORONA EXTRA)  1:35.954
 2 Walker (GB-Kawasaki)                      1:36.731
 3 Chili (I-Honda)                           1:37.003
 4 Neukirchner (D-Honda)                     1:37.127
 5 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda)                    1:37.146
 6 Kagayama (J-Suzuki)                       1:37.159
 7 Clementi (I-Kawasaki)                     1:37.299
 8 Martin (Aus-Petronas)                     1:37.332
 9 Lanzi (I-Ducati)                          1:37.465
10 Abe (J-Yamaha)                            1:37.520

TROY CORSER WEBSITE - http://www.troycorser.com