‘We have more in the bag’ - Laverty
Mon, 31 May 2010
PARKALGAR HONDA ace Eugene Laverty missed out on pole position by less than 8/100ths of a second to fellow Honda racer Kenan Sofuoglu at the seventh round of the World Supersport Championship at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City in the USA.
Portuguese Parkalgar Honda racer Miguel Praia crashed in the morning practice but came back to improve his lap time in qualifying, ending up 14th with high hopes of finishing higher in the race now he has found a confidence inspiring set-up on his bike. The race is at 1330 local time on Monday, May 31st – Memorial Day in the USA.
Eugene: “That was really close and I am surprised by just how many riders managed the quick lap times. We are consistent but I think we have more in the bag. The raise in temperature caught us out a little and we need to go further to improve my Parkalgar Honda. Basically there is a lot of grip here and we need the bike to work differently with it by improving the rear end. I am looking forward to warm-up before the race because we know what we need to do. Kenan and Joan are right there and it is going to be a hard race.”
Miguel: “I crashed in practice this morning and that hurt us preparing for qualification. I ended up with the lap time I wanted and my Parkalgar Honda team stiffened the forks for me this afternoon and my bike felt much better. Now we will try something more in warm-up to go faster but I know I can run good times by myself. My starting position is not the best but I think we can get a decent result in the race.”
Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Sofuoglu dug deep to beat Eugene by 8/100ths of a second and Lascorz has closed in as well. Eugene is still looking good with very consistent and fast lap times. We expect nothing less than a big fight for the win but that is what we are going for. Miguel’s crew did a great job fixing his bike after this morning’s crash and he has improved by nearly a second today, however, his poor first three sessions are letting him down by placing him down the grid – he will need a superb first lap tomorrow to get up with the riders in front and go for a top 10 finish.”
Final Qualifying
1 54 K. SOFUOGLU TUR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 1'51.281
2 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 1'51.363
3 26 J. LASCORZ ESP Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'51.461
4 37 K. FUJIWARA JPN Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'51.531
5 25 D. SALOM ESP ParkinGO BE1 Triumph Triumph Daytona 675 1'51.656
6 7 C. DAVIES GBR ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 1'51.797
7 51 M. PIRRO ITA HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 1'51.929
8 99 F. FORET FRA Team Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'52.033
9 127 R. HARMS DEN Harms Benjan Racing Honda CBR600RR 1'52.248
10 40 J. DISALVO USA ParkinGO BE1 Triumph Triumph Daytona 675 1'52.287
14 117 M. PRAIA POR Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 1'53.372
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