Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Craig Jones and Steve Martin have realistic expectations going into the fourth round of the Superbike World Championship at Monza this weekend.

At an Italian circuit steeped in history, the FPR team will be hoping recent history does not repeat itself.

The venue, with its famous long straights, is known to favour the most powerful bikes in the field and has not previously rewarded the sweet-handling characteristics of the PETRONAS FP1.

So, although Steve qualified on the front row of the grid at the previous round in Valencia, the team is prepared for an uphill battle to secure valuable points.

Craig, in his first season on the world stage, will be making his first appearance at Monza. He said: “I don’t feel any pressure this weekend because I have never been to the circuit before. It is going to take a day to learn the place so I just want to go out and enjoy myself. Carl has said that it is not the hardest place to learn, and hopefully he will be able to give me plenty of advice. It is a tough circuit for us but we need to keep that in mind and not panic. I am a lot more upbeat following the second race in Spain. Despite the problems we had it was good to be up there racing again.”

Steve said: “This is probably going to be a tricky weekend for us. Everyone knows that Monza is a power circuit, and last year was a disaster for us. It is full of long straights and the fastest bike usually wins the race. So if we can finish both races in the points I think we will have done extremely well. I have also not started behind second row on the grid so I will be giving everything for Superpole again. It is hard approaching a weekend thinking that way, but that does not mean I will not be giving it 100 per cent, and we will also be using the track time for the continual development of the PETRONAS FP1 for future rounds.”

Unproductive opening day for FPR

Foggy PETRONAS Racing face a mountain to climb for tomorrow’s qualifying sessions at Monza following an unproductive opening day of the fourth round of the Superbike World Championship.

A series of technical problems left riders Steve Martin and Craig Jones struggling to find a rhythm at the ‘Citadel of Speed’.

Steve finished the day down in 27th position, two seconds off the provisional qualification time for Superpole and more than four seconds behind pace-setter Noriyuki Haga.

Craig, on his first visit to the circuit, also missed out on valuable track time and, with wet weather forecast over the next two days, was hopeful of another chance to improve his race set-up.

Craig said: “This morning’s aim was to learn the circuit and to pick my final braking markers. It was a shame that we had a technical problem with one of the bikes at the other end of the circuit, as it takes ages to get back to the pits. But, after 13 laps, I was only two seconds off Steve on my first time out here, so I didn’t find the circuit too difficult to learn. The speed of the circuit and proximity to the barriers certainly didn’t faze me - I had been looking forward to getting onto the big long straights and fast chicanes. We changed the gearing for the afternoon but an old gremlin popped up again as it made the bike unstable in a straight line. We already have a plan to solve that but I would have liked to have made more progress than I have today.”

Steve said: “We were dogged by a few unforeseen mechanical problems, which hampered us throughout the day and I couldn’t get into any kind of rhythm. The team were trying to fix those problems in the afternoon, so we weren’t really able to make any progress on set-up from the morning session. We now have 12 hours to regroup, although there is already a big gap to 16th and the Superpole places. We need tomorrow to be dry so that we at least have a chance of giving it our best shot.”

Friday qualify times, Superbike World Championship, round 4, Monza, Italy: 1 Haga 1:47.007; 2 Bayliss 1:47.043; 3 Corser 1:47.591; 4 Toseland 1:47.751; 5 Laconi 1:47.763; 6 Barros 1:47.769; 7 Pitt 1:47.793; 8 Xaus 1:47.852; 9 Fabrizio 1:48.070; 10 Rolfo 1:48.334; 27 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:51.183; 29 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:53.873

Friday free practice times: 1 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1:47.214; 2 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:47.401; 3 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) 1:47.435; 4 Xaus (Sterilgarda-Berik) 1:47.891; 5 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:47.987; 6 Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:47.998; 7 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:48.096; 8 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 1:48.168; 9 Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:48.319; 10 Haga (Yamaha Italia) 1:48.444; 27 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:50.358; 30 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:52.639

Qualifying ordeal for FPR at Monza

Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s run of impressive qualifying performances was brought to a halt at the high-speed Monza circuit today.

Having achieved consecutive front row starting positions in the previous two rounds of the Superbike World Championship, Steve Martin was only able to qualify in 23rd position having missed out on Superpole. Team-mate Craig Jones, on his first visit to the Italian circuit, will start tomorrow’s races from 30th position.

Despite stability problems on the start-finish straight, both riders were able to improve on yesterday’s times by 1.5 seconds and Steve’s fastest lap on race rubber was nearly two seconds quicker than his best time on qualifying rubber last year.

However, in dry and warm conditions conducive to fast times, Troy Corser claimed pole position with a new best lap at the circuit of 1:46.564, while championship rival Troy Bayliss set a new top speed of 314kmh, highlighting the power deficit faced by the FPR team.

Steve said: “I can take some positives out of the day. I think the lap of 1:48.9 this morning was about as quick as we are going to go at this circuit. I am pretty sure we are getting the most out of our package although we still need to get rid of high-speed weave when the tyres are worn. I will be happy if we can have two consistent and trouble-free races tomorrow.”

Craig said: “We have tried everything except turning the bike upside down to try and get rid of the wobble down the start-finish straight. I am probably losing around half a second down that straight alone and we need to make improvements overnight if I am going to be able to race with anyone tomorrow.”

Superpole results, Superbike World Championship, Monza, Italy: 1 Corser 1:46.058; 2 Bayliss 1:46.360; 3 Barros 1:46.511; 4 Laconi 1:46.597; 5 Walker 1:46.978; 6 Pitt 1:47.015; 7 Muggeridge 1:47.082; 8 Toseland 1:47.133; 9 Kagayama 1:47.156; 10 Haga 1:47.627; 11 Rolfo 1:47.975; 12 Foret 1:48.009; 13 Lanzi 1:48.170; 14 Nieto 1:48.240; 15 Fabrizio 1:48.969; 16 Xaus, no time.

Saturday qualifying results (best time bracketed): 1 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:46.564; 2 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1:46.984; 3 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) 1:46.985; 4 Haga (Yamaha Italia) 1:48.026 (1:47.007); 5 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:47.094; 6 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:47.199; 7 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 1:47.218; 8 Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:47.352; 9 Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:47.414; 10 Xaus (Sterilgarda-Berik) 1:47.865 (1:47.851); 23 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:48.939; 30 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:51.275

Free practice times: 1 Corser 1:46.576; 2 Bayliss 1:46.700; 3 Barros 1:46.866; 4 Muggeridge 1:47.154; 5 Laconi 1:47.233; 6 Toseland 1:47.422; 7 Haga 1:47.438; 8 Kagayama 1:47.526; 9 Pitt 1:47.555; 10 Foret 1:48.049; 25 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:49.889; 29 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:51.501

Monza takes its toll on FPR

The intense demands of the Monza circuit took their toll on the Foggy PETRONAS Racing team as Steve Martin and Craig Jones were unable to complete a race.

Mechanical problems which had been evident during the two days of qualifying persisted on race day, while championship leader Troy Bayliss romped to victory in both contests to extend his championship lead.

Team manager Jack Valentine said: “Monza has always been a tough circuit for us and the nature of the circuit again has highlighted some of the weaknesses that persist with a bike which is still continually being developed. We will get to work on solutions straight away to ensure that we are in better shape for the next round at Silverstone.”

Craig and Steve stayed clear of the first race carnage at the first chicane, where seven riders crashed, leaving Craig in 14th place going into the first split before he pulled in with an electrical problem, shortly before Steve retired with an oil leak.

And, on a day littered with a total of 19 DNFs, the second race was equally short as Craig, running a new gearbox, ran off into the gravel and Steve had to pull in with further mechanical issues.

Craig said: “In the first race I think Nannelli came flying along the grass, went down and wiped everyone out in front of me so I was the first through unscathed. I was able to do my fastest lap of the weekend, a 50.8, and if the stability problems hadn’t returned with the changes that we had to make to improve handling after morning warm-up, I think I could have lapped in the mid-49s. But then I had a problem with the bike cutting out so I had no option but to come in. We ran a different gearbox for the second race and, when I changed down for Parabolica as normal, I ran out of track but managed to keep the bike upright in the gravel.”

Steve said: “I was one of the first guys behind the accident in the first race, so I had to brake and let everyone get out of the way. Then I was able to lap at 49.4, my fastest pace of the weekend, with clear air in front of me. But I felt the back end siding round and could see oil on my boots so I had to retire. In race two there seemed to be a problem with the fuelling on the out-lap, which we tried to fix on the line. The bike then got slower and slower in the opening two laps and I had to park it up.”

Race two results, Superbike World Championship, Monza, Italy: 1 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox); 2 Corser +1.916; 3 Haga +6.479; 4 Barros +10.227; 5 Toseland +11.910; 6 Pitt +17.551; 7 Muggeridge +17.720; 8 Nieto +17.825; 9 Walker +22.873; 10 Rolfo +31.603; 11 Lanzi +31.610; 12 Nakatomi +34.282; 13 Foret +35.273; 14 Fabrizio +35.306; 15 Xaus +40.522

Race one results, Superbike World Championship, Monza, Italy: 1 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox); 2 Barros (Klaffi Honda) +3.982; 3 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) +4.216; 4 Haga (Yamaha Italia) +4.395; 5 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) +13.605; 6 Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +13.665; 7 Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki) +14.066; 8 Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi) +19.170; 9 Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) +25.729; 10 Nakatomi (Yamaha France) +28.350; 11 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) +29.639; 12 Gimbert (Yamaha France) +30.354; 13 Foret (Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) +43.838; 14 Alfonsi (PM Corse) +44.312; 15 Clementi (Team Pedercini) +44.530