Unlucky Friday 13th for Ruben and Troy

2009 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round 2, Doha, Qatar
Losail circuit: 5.380 kms. Conditions: Dry, hazy, 25-27 C
Final qualifying, Friday 13th March

Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport riders Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser were two of many riders who suffered in the new Superpole system and so will start tomorrow’s pair of 18-lap races from the fourth row of the grid. Once again Troy had performed superbly in regular qualifying and had finished 8th in the first session and tenth in the second. He then followed that up with the fourth fastest lap in Superpole 1, but that lap time was wiped away for the 16 riders who lined up for Superpole 2. He used the same type of qualifier for Superpole 2, but the tyre didn’t work as well, causing the front end of the bike to chatter. This problem was enough to prevent Troy from getting into Superpole 3 and a possible place on the second row of the grid. Ruben improved his lap times by over three seconds from first practice and was happy to qualify for Superpole 1. He managed to get into Superpole 2, but no further. As a result he will line up on the fourth row of the grid with Troy alongside. American Ben Spies (Yamaha) won Superpole, with Jakob Smrz (Ducati) second, Max Biaggi (Aprilia) third and series leader Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) fourth.

Ruben - 15th, 1:59.435
Of course, it is disappointing to be on the fourth row of the grid, but I’m happy because I have improved my lap times so much since my first session here. It’s not so easy developing a bike during the race weekend, but it’s just something that we have to get used to doing and trying to do it as well as we can. The more we push the bike towards its limit, the more we find out things and the more we have to work out how to improve those things. In the afternoon, I had a lot chatter and couldn’t push any harder, but I know that my lap time on race tyres is quite good. It’s a shame that our first two races are so far from our workshops because I’m sure we could have solved some of the problems more quickly if we’d been able to do the work. But we cannot stop time, we just have to keep working hard. I know I am in the best team in the paddock and that gives me a lot of power. I want to be up the front - sooner rather than later - and I know it’s going to take some time, but I am confident that we are going to get there, before too long.

Troy - 16th, 1:59.954
I’m not a fan of this new Superpole system and I think it must be quite hard for the fans to follow and understand. My lap in Superpole 1 would’ve put me on row three for sure and maybe row two, if luck had gone our way. In Superpole 1, I used a qualifying tyre for the first time this year and did a 1:58.950 quite easily. But for Superpole 2, that time gets wiped clean and you start all over again. We used the same tyre on the same bike for Superpole 2, but suddenly the bike was chattering and that made it impossible to go any quicker. It’s a bit frustrating when that happens and now I know I have got a very hard job ahead. My bike is not so fast at the top end as most of my rivals, so it means that I am going to have to work harder in the turns trying to stay with them. This track has a long front straight and then a series of corners, so it is very easy to get held up and then not be able catch the front group. My plan is to get two good starts and see what happens in the race.

Results
1 Spies (USA-Yamaha) 1:57.280, 2 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:57.384, 3 Biaggi (I-Aprilia) 1:57.694, 4 Haga (J-Ducati) 1:57.850, 5 Sykes (GB-Yamaha) 1:57.878, 6 Nakano (J-Aprilia) 1:58.755, 7 Checa (E-Honda) 1:59.090, 8 Byrne (GB-Ducati) 2:00.021, 9 Rolfo (I-Honda) 1:58.734, 10 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 1:58.919, 15 Ruben Xaus (E-BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1:59.435, 16 Troy Corser (Aus-BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1:59.454