Infront MotorSports press release:

Ducati Xerox’s Michel Fabrizio dominated the opening day of World Superbike qualifying at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. After setting the quickest time in the morning’s free practice, the Italian then did the same in the afternoon qualifying session to record a time of 1 minute 45.447 seconds. Fabrizio strung together a series of quick laps at the end of the session, clearly staking an early claim for the wins on Sunday. Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) put in a quick lap at the end of the session to prevent a Ducati 1-2, the British rider heading the points leader Noriyuki Haga by just three-hundredths of a second. The provisional front row was completed by another British rider, Jonathan Rea, who took his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda to fourth place.

Fifth and sixth slots on the second row of the grid went to the competitive Suzuki pairing of Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama, the only other riders under the 1’46” mark. Once again Superbike qualifying proved to be a hard-fought affair, with 13 riders separated by less than a second. Seventh quickest time went to Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike),who finished ahead of Max Biaggi on the Aprilia. BMW once again placed its two riders in the top 15, with Ruben Xaus two-hundredths of a second ahead of his team-mate Troy Corser. Shinya Nakano’s difficult moment continued for Aprilia with the Japanese rider crashing out in the afternoon.

Times: 1. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’45.447; 2. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’45.758; 3. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’45.790; 4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’45.919; 5. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’45.962; 6. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’45.985; 7. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’46.013; 8. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’46.054; 9. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.140; 10. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’46.164; 11. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.171; 12. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.208; 13. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’46.363; 14. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’46.545; 15. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’46.565; 16. Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’46.566

World Supersport

Points leader Cal Crutchlow was quickest in today’s free practice session with a time of 1 minute 50.594 seconds. The Yamaha World Supersport man was pushed hard all the way by a trio of riders made up of Spanish talent Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Provec), Australian Mark Aitchison (Honda Althea) and Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport) of France, all four split by three-tenths. Matthieu Lagrive (Honda Althea) was in fifth place, but half-a-second off the pace, with the rest over one second off the pole time. A surprising sixth place went to top Italian Danilo Dell’Omo (Kuja Racing Honda), with Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki Provec) next up and Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s champion pairing Andrew Pitt and Kenan Sofuoglu in eighth and ninth. Winner of two races this year Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) fared even worse, the Irishman  finishing just outside the top 10.

Times: 1. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’50.594; 2. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’50.605; 3. Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’50.749; 4. Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’50.934; 5. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’51.474; 6. Dell’Omo D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’51.783; 7. Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’51.860; 8. Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’51.920

Superstock 1000

Two Ducati 1098 machines took the top two places in Superstock 1000 free practice. Xavier Simeon (Ducati Xerox) was the only rider to dip under the 1’50” mark with 1 minute 49.522 seconds, the Belgian firing in his quickest time a few minutes before the end of the session. Second place today went to Domenico Colucci (Barni Racing), the wild-card rider and winner of the Italian championship round here at Monza last Sunday. The provisional front row was made up of emerging French youngster Loris Baz (MRS Yamaha) and Claudio Corti (Suzuki Alstare). Fifth place went to another Frenchman Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Honda), who won the last round at Assen. Javi Fores (Pedercini Kawasaki), Rene Mahr (TKR Suzuki) and Ismael Ortega (Pedercini Kawasaki) completed the second row.

Times: 1. Simeon X. (BEL) Ducati 1098R 1’49.522; 2. Colucci D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’50.127; 3. Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’50.128; 4. Corti C. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’50.136; 5. Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’50.311; 6. Fores J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’50.400; 7. Mähr R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’50.536; 8. Ortega I. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’50.982

Superstock 600

Italians totally dominated the first session of Superstock 600 free practice, with race favourites and Yamaha Trasimeno team-mates Danilo Petrucci and Marco Bussolotti powering to the top two slots. Last weekend’s CIV winner Ferruccio Lamborghini (Media Action Yamaha) was third, ahead of Eddi La Marra (Lorini Honda) and Fabio Massei (M2 Yamaha), another wild-card. The first non-Italian on the provisional grid was Frenchman Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Yamaha) in sixth while Britain’s Gino Rea (Ten Kate Honda) could only manage ninth, more than two seconds off the pace of Petrucci.

Times: 1. Petrucci D. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’54.500; 2. Bussolotti M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’54.659; 3. Lamborghini F. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’55.179; 4. La Marra E. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR    1’55.330; 5. Massei F. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’55.888; 6. Guarnoni J. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’55.926; 7. Chmielewski A. (POL) Yamaha YZF R6 1’56.113; 8. Gregorini G. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’56.295