MIXED FRIDAY AT ASSEN FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM – TOSELAND TAKES OVERNIGHT POLE,
LACONI CRASHES TWICE

Assen (Netherlands), Friday 2 September: Friday’s first qualifying session at
Assen produced mixed fortunes for the Ducati Xerox Team pairing of James
Toseland and Régis Laconi as they line up for the ninth round of the World
Superbike Championship. On great form throughout the one-hour session, Toseland
produced a superb last-minute effort on his Xerox-backed Ducati 999 to grab the
overnight pole from points leader Corser (Suzuki) and the Honda duo of
Muggeridge and Vermeulen.

“I felt pretty comfortable this morning and we haven’t made any changes to the
bike, it was pretty good already” declared Toseland. “We just wanted to do more
laps because it was good enough to go faster with the setting we had and we
didn’t want to change anything. We just tried a couple of rear tyres, the
front’s working pretty well and we’ve already found a rear. It’s Friday
afternoon and I’m ready to race! There haven’t been many problems all year with
the bike set-up to be honest. We haven’t really changed much on the bike and now
it’s going as it should do.

“The new bits on the circuit are a bit tricky because you are used to going that
fast down the back straight and scaring the hell out of yourself to now having
to brake really hard for that right-hander and every lap you want to take it 5
mph too fast and you go wide. But luckily there’s plenty of space to go wide and
you have to get a judgement for it. But it hasn’t spoilt it, Assen is still
Assen and I still love it here” concluded Toseland.

Despite being on the pace, Laconi had a difficult afternoon session, the
Frenchman twice crashing at the same point and ending up in the Clinica Mobile
with a gashed right elbow, which had to have eight stitches put in, and
lacerations down his lower left leg. No bones were broken in the incident but
the mobility of Laconi’s arm will be reviewed in the morning to see if the
Frenchman is in a position to continue the weekend.

“The first crash came when I lost the front, I haven’t done that for a long
time” commented Laconi in the Clinica Mobile. “The second crash was exactly the
same place, the second curve, but this time I was coming out of the pits on my
first lap, not even going fast, when I opened the throttle and the bike went
away and high-sided me. I remained under the bike sliding down the tarmac, the
bike was on top of me all the time. I’ve got a big hole in my elbow where
they’re stitching me up and lacerated my leg and little toe. We’ll just have to
see how I feel tomorrow morning.”

TIMES:

 1. Toseland (Ducati Xerox)  2m04.742s
 2. Corser (Suzuki)          2m04.835s
 3. Muggeridge (Honda)       2m05.136s
 4. Vermeulen (Honda)        2m05.445s
 5. Lanzi (Ducati SC)        2m05.594s
 6. Martin (Petronas)        2m05.793s
 7. Neukirchner (Honda)      2m05.822s
 8. Pitt (Yamaha)            2m05.908s
15. Laconi (Ducati Xerox)    2m06.691s