Craig Jones second in World Supersport qualifying one in Misano

Craig Jones clicked instantly with the revised Misano circuit to finish the opening World Supersport qualifying session and just missed out on provisional pole by 0.001sec.

Jones riding the Reve/Ekerold Honda CBR600RR was fast all session but saved his best until last to jump from 10th to second on his final circuit of the day and was also the top Honda rider in the World Supersport’s second session.

Jones’ qualifying performance was a marked improvement over previous qualifying sessions this year and the young British rider is confident he can go even faster tomorrow.

Speaking to MCN, he said: “It felt comfortable and I spent the session just lapping and learning and not just going all out for a single fast lap.

“The track is all about the front end, even more than I thought, but I’m finding the circuit really grippy. The new section isn’t as good but I’m able to just wind the throttle on as hard as I can everywhere else and I’m not even having any slides.”

“The motor actually felt a bit flat this afternoon because the engine was running too hot. We’ve got a thin radiator on and the temperature was up to 90 degrees. We should be running at 80 degrees and if we can do that the engine will definitely feel sharper.”

With temperatures forecast to remain hot for the rest of the weekend, the team will fit a new thicker, bigger capacity radiator for tomorrow in an effort to lower the engine temperature on track.

Australian Anthony West was the only man to top Jones’ time onboard his factory Yamaha with team-mate Broc Parkes in third in the World Supersport first qualifying session.

The Two Kate Honda’s of Sebastian Charpentier and Kenan Sofuoglu finished lower than expected in fourth and 10th place respectively.

World Supersport qualifying one results:

1 Anthony West AUS Yamaha YZF-R6  1’40.396
2 Craig Jones GBR Honda CBR600RR  1’40.397
3 Broc Parkes AUS Yamaha YZF-R6  1’40.461
4 Sebastien Charpentier FRA Honda CBR600RR  1’40.548
5 Pere Riba ESP Kawasaki ZX-6R  1’40.673
6 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN Honda CBR600RR  1’40.905
7 Lorenzo Alfonsi  ITA Honda CBR600RR  1’40.930
8 Yoann Tiberio FRA Honda CBR600RR  1’40.944
9 Javier Fores ESP Honda CBR600RR  1’40.970
10 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Honda CBR600RR  1’40.975
11 David Checa ESP Yamaha YZF-R6  1’41.007
12 Fabien Foret FRA Kawasaki ZX-6R  1’41.140
13 Joan Lascorz ESP Honda CBR600RR  1’41.147
14 Massimo Roccoli ITA Yamaha YZF-R6  1’41.231
15 Robbin Harms DEN Honda CBR600RR  1’41.263
16 Gianluca Vizziello ITA Yamaha YZF-R6  1’41.263
17 Gilles Boccolini ITA Kawasaki ZX-6R  1’41.277
18 Stefano Cruciani ITA Honda CBR600RR  1’41.299
19 Matthieu Lagrive FRA Honda CBR600RR  1’41.478
20 Vesa Kallio FIN Suzuki GSX-R600  1’41.590
21 David Salom ESP Yamaha YZF-R6  1’41.591
22 Simone Sanna ITA Honda CBR600RR  1’41.607
23 Alessandro Brannetti ITA Yamaha YZF-R6  1’41.688
24 Vladimir Ivanov RUS Yamaha YZF-R6  1’41.740
25 Barry Veneman NED Suzuki GSX-R600  1’42.354
26 William De Angelis RSM Honda CBR600RR  1’42.456
27 Sebastien Gimbert FRA Yamaha YZF-R6  1’42.536
28 Miguel Praia POR Honda CBR600RR  1’42.868
29 Julien Enjolras FRA Yamaha YZF-R6  1’43.897
30 Yves Polzer AUT Ducati 749R  1’43.905
31 Davide Giugliano ITA Kawasaki ZX-6R  1’43.918
32 Gregory Leblanc FRA Honda CBR600RR  1’44.117
33 Sascha Hommel GER Honda CBR600RR  1’44.456
34 Jesco Gunther GER Honda CBR600RR  1’44.611
35 Gergo Talmacsi HUN Yamaha YZF-R6  1’45.175
36 Alessio Brugnoni ITA Ducati 749R  1’45.594
37 David Forner ESP Yamaha YZF-R6  1’46.488