[Purpdust]

Provisional pole position has gone to the No.11 Seven Stars Honda SP-W of Nicky Hayden and Ryuichi Kiyonari. Hayden’s fastest lap of 2:07.312 was put in during this morning’s first session, when track conditions were ideal.

MotoGP rookie Hayden is having a great time this weekend: “This is a race we hear a lot about in the states; all my heroes have raced at the Suzuka 8 Hour so I’m just happy to be here. I hope we can put on a good show for the race on Sunday.”

Second fastest is the only other team to break into the 2:07s, the Daxim Yoshimura Suzuki of Atushi Watanabe and Yukio Kagayama with a best lap of 2:07.540.

The full-time championship teams are all having tyre problems. Suzuki Police Nationale’s Gwen Giabbani seems to be having the most trouble: “It’s still no good. The bike won’t grip, it won’t turn. It’s just no good today. We are trying to find the solution, but…” The situation is similar for Suzuki GB Phase One in the adjoining pit garage. Rider Jason Pridmore explains: “The rear is just spin, spin, spin… and with this tyre rule we can’t try different compounds.”

Suzuki Zonshen No.2’s Igor Jerman seems disappointed with his performance today, convincing himself that performance on Sunday is more important: “I think we can do 2:12s in the race; I did that last year with no problems.” Zongshen No.1’s Warwick Nowland is the fastest of the permanent riders, but is always convinced there is more to come: “I could have gone quicker if we’d had qualifying tyres – the ten tyre rule has caused us lots of problems. We need nine sets of tyres for the race which means Stephane and I are sharing a qualifier.”

The X-One Mondial team are enjoying their first visit to Suzuka, and are confident of qualifying for the oversubscribed grid. Their main competition for the race comes in the shape of the Formula Xtreme Kawasaki Z1, the two BMW R1100Ss and the pair of Honda CB1300s, a popular class with both racers and spectators.

A sizeable crowd has gathered in the grandstand opposite pitlane, displaying banners supporting everyone from old-hand Shinichi Itoh to Suzuka novice Nicky Hayden. Today’s pitlane walkabout opened with a sprint as those fans clamoured – in an orderly and polite Japanese way – for riders’ autographs and the chance to be photographed with the “Race Queen” promo girls. As ever at Suzuka the weather is hot and humid, but the temperatures are not as high as expected.

The first 20 places on the grid will be decided by a series of Superpole “Special Stage – Attack / Jump-Up” sessions to be held tomorrow after the Supersport Suzuka 4 Hour support race. Special tyres can be used for Superpole, so times are expected to fall further when the special qualifiers come out.

2003, August 1st
Suzuka 8 Hours
Provisional Top Ten
1st: 11 – Honda Seven Stars (JPN) – Hayden, Kiyonari – 2:07.312
2nd: 12 - Suzuki Yoshimura Daxim (JPN) – Watanabe, Kagayama – 2:07.540
3rd: 7 – Honda Seven Stars (JPN) – Ukawa, Izutsu – 2:08.178
4th: 21 - Yamaha YSP Presto (JPN) – Nakatomi, Yoshikawa – 2:09.107
5th: 87 – Honda FCC TSR (JPN) – Konishi, Mori – 2:09.189
6th: 74 – Honda Sakurai (JPN) – Okada, Kameya – 2:09.229
7th: 8 – Suzuki Kenz J Trust (JPN) – Kitagawa, Fujiwara – 2:09.254
8th: 555 – Honda Masked Rider (JPN) – Yamaguchi, Takahashi – 2:09.255
9th: 20 – Suzuki Garfield RSK (JPN) – Kobayashi, Ogata – 2:09.471
10th: 44 – Honda Weider DDBoys (JPN) – Deguchi, Aoki – 2:09.650

[BDA116]

Nicky's achilles heel showed once more. He really needs to work on his qualifying crap. He always goes faster in paractice and the race than his qualifying times. Then again, there was once this other racer with the initials M.D. that wasn't the best qualifier but an excellent racer. He ended up doing alright, but Nicky should really work on it. After the 'Attack' stage, Nicky was still in good shape, but the 'Jump Up' stage saw them put in their worst time of the weekend, and now they are starting in sixth spot.
The bike starting in pole position is a FireBlade, by the way.
The good news for Nicky is that they set up the bike for mileage rather than outright fastet lap. All that's left now is the race.
I just hope no one gets hurt too bad at the sh!tty circuit.

[deez]

Yeah M.D. never let that stop him

[Baketech]

Holy sarcasm Batman....

[Baketech]

Young Hayden's comments on qualifying at Suzuka - MP3