**Phillip Island Free Practice & Qualifying**

FP3 times ...
1. Checa 1m30.202
2. Hayden 1m30.272
3. Capirossi 1m30.273
4. Elias 1m30.366
5. Rossi 1m30.522
6. Stoner 1m30.524
7. Edwards 1m30.582
8. Roberts 1m30.597
9. Gibernau 1m30.604
10. Nakano 1m30.727
11. De Puniet 1m30.881
12. Melandri 1m31.056
13. Hopkins 1m31.303
14. Vermeulen 1m31.393
15. Pedrosa 1m31.468
16. Hofmann 1m31.638
17. Tamada 1m32.143
18. Cardoso 1m32.293
19. Ellison 1m32.452

WHERE'S MR DE PUNIET WITHOUT HIS PRECIOUS Q-TYRE! ... ha

^ that was his time set with the q-tyre in free prac 2 yesterday ....

qualifying is soon ..... watch that time get demolished

^ it usually varies from track to track and rider to rider ... hayden's pole time this year was a 0.3 of second faster than last years pole position time

Okie dokie..
Qualifying Grid Line Up is as follows!:
1. Hayden 1m29.02
2. Nakano 1m29.25
3. Rossi 1m29.27
4. Roberts 1m29.66
5. Edwards 1m29.68
6. Checa 1m29.86
7. Melandri 1m29.94
8. Stoner 1m29.96
9. De Puniet 1m30.03
10. Pedrosa 1m30.08
11. Tamada 1m30.13
12. Gibernau 1m30.23
13. Capirossi 1m30.39
14. Elias 1m30.49
15. Hopkins 1m31.14
16. Vermeulen 1m31.28
17. Hofmann 1m31.67
18. Ellison 1m31.99
19. Cardoso 1m32.87

dissapointing for the ducatis .... especially since Gibbers set a few good times early in the session..... and CHUCKY CHECA! ... up in the top ten on the dunlops ... good work.

pole should be a good confidence booster for hayden .... its his first this year isn't it?

gunna be a good Rossi Hayden battle. Great weather (fingers crossed) last 2 days! should be good tomorrow too

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Morgo @ Sep 16 2006, 07:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>gunna be a good Rossi Hayden battle. Great weather (fingers crossed) last 2 days! should be good tomorrow too

Very strange qualifying. Gibernau and Rossi had the best race pace. Both with 5 or more laps under '31. Capirossi somewhat behind. Hayden was quite a bitt off in race pace. Still he is first on the grid and Gibernau and Capirex on 12 and 13. Kawas were also very fast but I still expect them to fade in race. I stick with my first guess, Rossi and the Ducatis. Of cource that will only be true if the ducatis get a good start. Roberts, Checa and Ewards might do good races too. Perdrosa are really strugeling and I don't see him repeating last weekends amazing result, but who knows. The drugs Clinca Mobile are using obviously works very well. Maybe he does this only to get another shot ;-)

Yeah, Hayden's first pole this season. He's going to struggle unless he and Pete Benson figure something out overnight and in the warmup. He had no sub 1.31 laps in QP and it seems that Rossi, Cappers and Gibbers are all capable of running mid to high 1.30 in race trim.

Disappointing QP for the Ducati men, they looked to have a couple front row starts all sewn up. Hopefully they can fight their way to the front.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ooost @ Sep 16 2006, 12:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, Hayden's first pole this season. He's going to struggle unless he and Pete Benson figure something out overnight and in the warmup. He had no sub 1.31 laps in QP and it seems that Rossi, Cappers and Gibbers are all capable of running mid to high 1.30 in race trim.

Disappointing QP for the Ducati men, they looked to have a couple front row starts all sewn up. Hopefully they can fight their way to the front.

Maybe we will se one of those kamikaze starts Capi used to do when the qualifyers didn't work that well. Turn one is not for the faint harted and things might look very different after that turn. That is, if the speed get high enough, I don't know what speed they reach from the start line to the entry of the turn. It might be flat out and change very little on that first lap, but the Ducatis will not end up in 12. and 13. that's for sure.

Let's hope Hayden get things sorted out. He wasn't as bad as i first thought. Not a scond of but more like .3 - .5 off in race pace. I Wouldn't like to see him end up in tenth or worse together with pedrosa and with rossi on the top. That would practically destroy the championship fight even if Hayden would still be in the lead with a few points.

All I can add is "Well done to Carlos Checha grabbing 6th spot on the grid.

yeah, gotta give it to checa. that was a shocker! gibbers has the most consistent fast race pace. he was able to crank out 10 laps in the 1:30 range. but starting on the 4th row. that's not so good. cappers only managed 3 1:30 laps. and not 1 after the other. 5th row start. gonna be tough for the ducati men. but it can be done. hayden had no 1:30s. 2 1:29s but obviously qualy's. rossi, nakano, edwards, checa, & depuniet all ran 5 or 6 1:30s. krjr, melandri, stoner all 3 laps. pedders 0. last year hayden did'nt even look like he was going to finish top 5 thru practice & qualifying. but race day they sure found something. gonna be a CRACKIN race!!!

Look at race pace, that's where the best indication is especially at the island. Ducati's and Kawasakis looked good but full race distance near the front is unknown territory for the kawasaki guys. The Repsol Hondas will be near the front as well, Dani will pull off another heroic race. Stoner and Roberts did a lot of laps on race tyres too and weren't that slow either. The only sort of unknown quantity is Rossi, unknown in that he's not entirely happy with race set-up, I could see his bike moving around front and rear all weekend. Checa might get to play a Joker if the weather stays cool which favours his Dunlops, makes Ellison look a bit sad. I don't know what's wrong with Suzuki, the bike is a heap of .... basically. I reckon I could go faster than Cardoso.

Watch out for DePuniet barging off that third row in turn one.

yep can never count out rossi. especialy at the island. i expect the usual from the kwaks, fade fade fade. honda riders gonna be a crap shoot i think. have to see how costa's pain concoctions help dani out. he's not lookin to good for tommorro. i think the ducs will be up there in the end. barring any 1st turn disaster.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (skidmark @ Sep 17 2006, 12:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I reckon I could go faster than Cardoso.

i reckon you could too ... but for all of the free practices Cardoso was actually ahead of Ellison .... that would've been a nice swift kick in the goodies for Ellison... team-mate on the same bike and tyres, being ontop of the charts and being slower than the slowest guy on the grid

CHRIS!

!!!!!!!!!! there was no need to worry!