Things heat up at Monza

Increased temperatures saw times drop in the first qualifying session at round four of the World Superbike champioship at Monza despite the fact that all the teams are still looking for a proper setup and no rider has gone out on qualifying tyres yet.

James Toseland upped his pace to knock Regis Laconi off the top spot, bettering Laconi’s best practice time by 0.25 seconds to finish on 1:47.713.

The same seven riders are filling the top spots as in the morning’s practice but positions have changed with Frankie Chili managing to stay second fastest and Neil Hodgson moved up to third.

James Haydon only put in four laps in the qualifying session after a high-side at the Ascari chicane in the morning’s practice left him with concussion, while Foggy team-mate only managed to take the FP1 to 14th fastest whilst struggling to cope with the infection in his injured thigh.

Haydon said: ” I came across a slower rider and had to put the bike in slightly tighter. When the back end broke I couldn’t save it, the bike landed on top of me and I took a big bang to the head. I wasn’t intending to ride this afternoon but the forecast is for rain tomorrow and I didn’t want to be outside of the qualifying time for the grid, so I did a few steady laps but I found it difficult to judge distances. ”

Neil Hodgson is still very unhappy about the handling of the 999 at the Italian track saying the bike feels very unstable.

” We’ve still got a lot of things to attend to on the bike before it is sorted but we are getting there. ” Said Hodgson.

Check back regularly for updates on all the action from the Italian circuit as well as British Superbikes at Knockhill and live updates from the BMF show, the UK’s biggest motorcycle event.

Times:1. Toseland James 1:47.713 2. Chili Pierfrancesco 1:47.723 3. Hodgson Neil 1:47.898 4. Laconi Régis 1:47.903 5. Xaus Ruben 1:48.101 6. Lavilla Gregorio 1:48.371 7. Walker Chris 1:48.557 8. Borciani Marco 1:48.691 9. Pedercini Lucio 1:48.994 10. Blora Paolo 1:49.534 11. Martin Steve 1:49.536 12. Iannuzzo Vittorio 1:49.946 13. Gramigni Alex 1:49.978 14. Corser Troy 1:50.320 15. Clementi Ivan 1:50.604 16. Sanchini Mauro 1:50.877 17. Bussei Giovanni 1:50.878 18. Borja Juan Bautista 1:51.039 19. Tortoroglio Walter 1:52.091 20. Haydon James 1:52.190 21. Foti Serafino 1:52.394 22. Fuertes Sergio 1:53.733 23. Masetti Marco 1:53.744 24. Mauri Lorenzo 1:55.220 25. Mrkyvka Jiri 1:56.691

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