Vallelunga World Superbikes: First blood to Troy Corser

Troy Corser set the fastest time in the opening free practice session for the penultimate round of the World Superbike Championship at Vallelunga, Italy.  

Riding the Yamaha Italia R1 Troy Corser bumped fellow countryman Troy Bayliss off the top spot with an impressive 1min 38.155sec.

Troy Bayliss survived a trip into the gravel, but stayed second fastest having dominated the majority of the hour long session.

Third place went to local hero Max Biaggi who was languishing outside the top ten before setting a blistering lap in the final minutes, which escalated him up to a provisional front row start.

Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga took fourth and although he was nearly a second off the pace of his team-mate Troy Corser, he significantly had championship leader James Toseland behind him.

James Toseland could only manage fifth place onboard the Ten Kate Honda with a best lap of 1m 39.122.

Britain’s Toseland looked seriously impressive through the opening part of the lap which incorporates a series of fast flowing corners and was comfortably fastest through the first split.

However he was unable to continue that pace and lost over a second in the final two splits which includes a series of ultra slow first gear turns.

First qualifying starts at 2.15pm local time.
 
Free practice one results:

1 CORSER T. AUS Yamaha YZF-R1 1’38.155
2 BAYLISS T. AUS Ducati 999 F07 1’38.471
3 BIAGGI M. ITA Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7 1’38.945
4 HAGA N. JPN Yamaha YZF-R1 1’39.077
5 TOSELAND J. GBR Honda CBR1000RR 1’39.122
6 ROLFO R. ITA Honda CBR1000RR 1’39.226
7 FABRIZIO M. ITA Honda CBR1000RR 1’39.240
8 LANZI L. ITA Ducati 999 F07 1’39.602
9 XAUS R. ESP Ducati 999 F06 1’39.639
10 LACONI R. FRA Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’39.691
11 BORCIANI M. ITA Ducati 999 F06 1’39.792
12 NAKATOMI S. JPN Yamaha YZF-R1 1’39.868
13 MUGGERIDGE K. AUS Honda CBR1000RR 1’40.029
14 BRIGNOLA N. ITA Ducati 999 F05 1’40.237
15 NIETO F. ESP Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’40.549
16 NEUKIRCHNER M. GER Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6 1’40.600
17 KAGAYAMA Y. JPN Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7 1’40.635
18 TIBERIO Y. FRA Honda CBR1000RR 1’41.290
19 SMRZ J. CZE Ducati 999 F05 1’41.422
20 IANNUZZO V. ITA Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’41.536
21 MARTIN S. AUS Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6 1’41.552
22 MORELLI L. ITA Honda CBR1000RR 1’41.762
23 ELLISON D. GBR Ducati 999RS 1’44.248