MARTIN IN THE MISANO MIXER FOR FPR
24 June 2005 - Foggy PETRONAS Racing

Steve Martin bounced back from his troubles at the previous round of the Superbike World Championship to finish in the top ten after the first day''s qualifying at Misano.

The Australian overcame two minor electrical problems in the morning session and a crash in the afternoon to slash more than a second off his best race-tyre pace in posting the 10th fastest time of the day.

Team-mate Garry McCoy struggled to find a satisfactory set-up throughout the day and opted not to use a qualifying tyre in the afternoon session, in which Troy Corser set the quickest lap of 1:35.717 despite crashing.

Steve said: ''I am smiling a lot more than I was at Silverstone because I have a lot less chatter and I can now ride the bike and work on the set-up. But 10th is still not where I want to be and if I can string some good lap times together on race tyres tomorrow morning I can probably go faster on a qualifier. I tried two new tyres this afternoon but they were two that I definitely won''t be using for the race. So tomorrow we can try back-to-backing the same race tyre that I did some half-decent lap times on this morning in order to get some race pace. The crash was similar to the one I had at Monza, when the back came round as I was braking and changing down gears at the end of the straight and I had to dump the bike in the gravel before I hit the wall. We will be looking at this problem overnight.''

Garry said: ''We struggled to find a good set-up this afternoon and didn''t fix anything from the morning session that we wanted to. I didn''t use a qualifier because I would rather try and fix the set-up and have two chances on a qualifier tomorrow morning. With the way the bike has been handling today it would have been a waste of a qualifier today. We tried a few things with the suspension and ride height to look for more rear grip and we have a few more options in mind for tomorrow, including shortening the bike a little. I am confident I can get into Superpole, but to get into the top ten is going to be a big push.''

Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship round 6, Misano, San Marino: 1 Corser 1:35.717; 2 Neukirchner 1:35.836; 3 Laconi 1:36.012; 4 Muggeridge 1:36.170; 5 Toseland 1:36.384; 6 Chili 1;36.492; 7 Kagayama 1:36.652; 8 Alfonsi 1:36.957; 9 Clementi 1:36.990; 10 Martin 1:37.106; 31 McCoy 1:39.041

Free practice times: 1 Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1:37.029; 2 Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 1:37.078; 3 Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda) 1:37.092; 4 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona) 1:37.281; 5 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:37.484; 6 Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:37.588; 7 Bussei (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 1:37.740; 8 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:37.853; 9 Chili (Klaffi Honda) 1:37.874; 10 Nieto (Ducati SC Caracchi) 1:37.884; 15 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.244; 25 McCoy (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:39.151

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