WSB : Pitt tops Yamahas in Monza
Round: 4 - Italy
Circuit: Monza
Date: 6 May 2005
Temp: 49ºC
Weather: Sunny

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt was the fastest of the Yamaha riders
during today's first qualifying for round four of the Superbike World
Championship at Monza.

The Australian set the eighth fastest time at his team's home circuit with a
best time of 1:49.422, despite spending the day evaluating many new parts for
his YZF-R1, including a Yamaha YEC kit swingarm, Termignoni exhaust system and
alternative brake calipers, but was still able to record a quick time around the
fast Italian circuit. 

Noriyuki Haga finished the day less than one tenth of a second and just two
places behind his team-mate.

A lack of circuit knowledge meant that Yamaha Motor France teamsters Norick Abe
and Sèbastien Gimbert ended the day down in 20th and 22nd places respectively.
Both riders are making their first appearances at Monza this weekend and spent
the two one hour sessions learning the high-speed circuit.

Championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) was the fastest rider of the day with
a 1:47.878, to place him ahead of team-mate Yukio Kagayama. Karl Muggeridge
(Honda) and replacement rider Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati) round off the
provisional front row.

Final qualifying takes place tomorrow (Saturday) morning, with the top 16 riders
qualifying for the afternoon's grid deciding superpole session.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)

"We came here with two different swingarms: one is the Yamaha kit version and
the other is the modified standard one have been using up to now. The kit one
has its good points, but it does change the character of the bike which has made
it difficult to fully evaluate changes to the suspension. For tomorrow we're
going to change back to what we used in the previous races, simply I need to
test the kit swingarm more. I'm quite happy with how it went today. We spent a
lot of time working on the brake set-up. My biggest problem has been that the
rear is coming lifting up under heavy braking, so tomorrow we'll be working to
find a way of extending the rear travel under braking."

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)

"We already have some good settings as we tested here a few weeks ago and
overall I am happy with the way the bike is feeling. But in the qualifying
session we had a small problem and that made it more difficult to concentrate
and go for a fast lap time. We will fix this for tomorrow and if it is dry I can
definitely improve my time."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia)

"Tomorrow I think we can see an improvement in both riders' times. Both of the
guys have spent today working towards finding a good race set-up rather than
going for one fast lap and it was only at the end of the session that we made
the decision to go for a fast lap on a qualifying tyre. Although we tested here
recently we still found things which we can improve."

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)

"It has been a tough day for me. I have never ridden at Monza before and it was
very unfortunate that we had lots of set-up problems this morning, which cost me
a lot of tracktime. It meant that the afternoon qualifying session was my first
real time on the track. Tomorrow I need to get lots of testing in so that I can
improve my position."

Sèbastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)

"This is a new circuit for me, so today it was important to learn about the
track and find a good set-up. Tonight we will study all the information from
today and tomorrow I am sure we can make some big improvements."

Round: 4 - Italy

Circuit: Monza
Circuit Length: 5792m
Lap Record: 1' 47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 47.434 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
Date: 6 May 2005
Temp: 49ºC

Session 1 :

Pos.Rider          Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying
 1  T. Corser      Suzuki        AUS   1'47.878
 2  Y. Kagayama    Suzuki        JPN   1'48.113
 3  K. Muggeridge  Honda         AUS   1'48.203
 4  G. Nannelli    Ducati        ITA   1'48.809
 5  J. Toseland    Ducati        GBR   1'48.846
 6  C. Vermeulen   Honda         AUS   1'48.849
 7  R. Laconi      Ducati        FRA   1'49.021
 8  A. Pitt        Yamaha        AUS   1'49.422
 9  C. Walker      Kawasaki      GBR   1'49.423
10  N. Haga        Yamaha        JPN   1'49.520
11  P. Chili       Honda         ITA   1'49.595
12  M. Borciani    Ducati        ITA   1'49.835
13  G. Bussei      Kawasaki      ITA   1'50.348
14  J. Cardoso     Yamaha        ESP   1'50.598
15  G. McCoy       Petronas      AUS   1'50.635
16  F. Nieto       Ducati        ESP   1'50.746
17  B. Bostrom     Honda         USA   1'51.012
19  G. Vizziello   Yamaha        ITA   1'51.158
20  N. Abe         Yamaha        JPN   1'51.367
21  L. Alfonsi     Yamaha        ITA   1'51.470
22  S. Gimbert     Yamaha        FRA   1'51.472
28  M. Praia       Yamaha        POR   1'52.535
29  P. Blora       Yamaha        ITA   1'52.825

WSS:Curtain and Parkes on the pace in Monza

6/5/2005

Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes made a positive start
to their weekend in Monza today, setting the third and seventh fastest times
respectively for Sunday's race.

With weather forecasts predicting a chance of rain tomorrow, both the Australian
riders were keen to post a good time around the fast Italian circuit during
today's warm and sunny session. Curtain overcome a crash during the morning
practice session to set a best time of 1:53.092 places him on the provisional
front row of the grid, with Parkes' 1:54.218 putting him directly behind his
team-mate on the starting grid.

An oil spillage on the entry to the Parabolica corner caused a 20 minute delay
to the session and effectively ruled out any chances of improvement for the
Yamaha riders, as the cement dust laid to soak up the oil forced riders to enter
the fast corner with extra caution.

Honda riders Sèbastien Charpentier set the fastest time in today's 45-minute
session, his 1:51.971 lap time being just over a second ahead of team-mate
Katsuaki Fujiwara and Curtain. Another Honda rider, Michel Fabrizio completes
the front row of the grid. Tomorrow's final qualifying session will determine
the final grid for Sunday's 16-lap race.

Kevin Curtain

"I didn't really know how we would go around Monza but, yeah, I'm happy with how
it went today. We've gone through so many settings on the suspension and I think
that we've already found something that will work well in the race, although
there are still some improvements to find at the front. It was good to get a
good time in early today as we know it might rain tomorrow - although I really
hope that it stays dry. The oil going into Parabolica was a problem though. You
didn't want to go over that fresh dust and oil so you ended up running wider
than you wanted into the corner, which ruined your speed going onto the straight."

Broc Parkes

"I'm a bit disappointed not to be on the front row today as the red flags came
out just as I was about to put in a fast lap on a new tyre - and all the oil
meant that it wasn't possible to go faster after the restart. But Kev managed to
stick a good lap in early on and I'm pretty confident that I can join him on the
front row tomorrow. The bike is feeling good and I know that I can go faster, so
I hope that it stays dry tomorrow."

Terrell Thien (Team Manager)

We have a new technician joining us in Monza directly from WP, because they want
to make further developments to their suspension. The riders are already really
happy with the new suspension parts and are very happy with the feeling from the
bike. We hope the weather stays good tomorrow as we are confident that we can
get both Broc and Kevin on the front row."