Brno World Superbikes: Haga tops final qualifying

Noriyuki Haga maintained control of the Brno World Superbike round by topping the time sheets in second qualifying this morning. Haga set provisional pole on only his second flying lap of the session with the cooler track temperatures working to his advantage around the 3.35 mile circuit.

With his fast time set Haga was able to concentrate on his race set-up and put in an impressive 12 lap race run with his times varying from 2m 02.624s to 2m03.286s a difference of just 0.8 seconds.

Troy Bayliss got his Xerox Ducati 999 working well on a softer tyre and secured second position although so far he hasn’t shown what he can do on a suitable race tyre with his longest run limited to just three laps.

Fellow Australian Troy Corser claimed third and like Bayliss didn’t put any serious race runs together and may concentrate on doing that this afternoon in Free practice.

James Toseland claimed the last spot on the provisional front row in fourth. His session included a strong eight lap race run with his fastest lap coming on the first lap.

Last years double race winner Yukio Kagayama ended the session in fifth with team-mate Max Biaggi in sixth. Both Suzuki men look to have good race pace but with a longest run of five laps it’s difficult to judge how long they can sustain good lap times.

The hour long Free Practice session takes place at 14.45 before Superpole commences at 16.00.

Final positions:

1 HAGA N. 2:00.573
2 BAYLISS T. 2:00.794
3 CORSER T. 2:01.126
4 TOSELAND J. 2:01.168
5 KAGAYAMA Y. 2:01.364
6 BIAGGI M. 2:01.371
7 FABRIZIO M. 2:01.380
8 ROLFO R. 2:01.573
9 LACONI R. 2:01.604
10 NIETO F. 2:01.738
11 LANZI L. 2:01.893
12 NEUKIRCHNER M. 2:01.955
13 NAKATOMI S. 2:02.391
14 MUGGERIDGE K. 2:02.612
15 SMRZ J. 2:02.709
16 XAUS R. 2:02.799
17 IANNUZZO V. 2:04.226
18 DRAZDAK J. 2:03.995
19 MORELLI L. 2:04.467
20 ZAISER C. 2:04.746
21 ELLISON D. 2:05.194
22 CIHAK M. 2:06.065
23 CRUCIANI S. 2:06.895