Australians Troy Corser, Mark Aitchison and Broc Parkes have spoken out ahead of today’s second round of the Superbike World Championship at Donington Park in the UK.
Corser was top Aussie in the Superbike ranks for BMW Motorrad Motorsport, qualifying 10th in Superpole, but admits he’s still looking for the optimum settings for race day.
“We had no serious issues, but there were some small vibrations in the rear tyre on the second qualifier,” Corser commented. “We are still just trying to find a good set-up. The cold weather was no problem, just a bit hard on the tyre.
“It seems to be tearing up quite a bit with the cold, but that is okay. Overall I am happy, but not with the qualifying result. The race tyre is quite good and consistent. We just need to get a good start and then we will see what is possible.”
WSBK rookie Mark Aitchison qualified 19th on his privateer Pedercini Kawasaki, continuing to make progress aboard the new ZX-10R.
“In the morning’s qualifying we tested some new settings to make me more comfortable on the bike, but unfortunately we did not move in the right direction and so I missed out on Superpole,” Atho commented.
“The weather conditions were colder and there was less grip, but the main problem was that I did not find the right feeling with my Kawasaki. In the afternoon free practice I worked very hard with my technicians and we found some good improvements on my bike set up.
“Tomorrow’s races will be very difficult, starting from fifth row, but I’m still feeling positive, also because the bike’s potential is very high and the team is doing a great job considering the little time we’ve had.”
In Supersport, Broc Parkes was pleased with his front row qualifying position in fourth and looks forward to a strong race on Sunday.
“It all ended up pretty good in the afternoon session. I had a crash on the fast left down Craner Curves, on a cold tyre this morning, and it is a lot faster down there than I thought! I hurt myself a little – my right thumb and a couple of ribs are quite sore,” Parkes said.
“I was a bit worried about how it would be in qualifying this afternoon but I was fine. The weather was a bit cooler today and it was hard to make the lap times simply because of that. But we worked it out and I was fourth on the grid and second in the session.
“Our consistency of lap time is pretty good as well. Our race pace should be right there and we may try a couple of new things tomorrow, but just little touches here or there.”