LACONI THIRD IN SUPERPOLE FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM AS TOSELAND FAILS TO
MAKE THE CUT

Valencia (Spain), Saturday 23 April: Régis Laconi will start tomorrow's third
round of the World Superbike Championship at Valencia, Spain from the front row
of the grid after setting third-quickest time in Superpole. Eleventh overnight,
the Frenchman improved his qualifying time by well over one second today and
then put in a good performance in the one-lap dash to end up behind poleman
Corser (Suzuki) and second-placed Vermeulen (Honda).

"My lap was really not perfect, I can do better but to be third today is good
because this track is difficult and the conditions were quite warm out there"
declared Laconi. "Yesterday I finished eleventh because we didn't use the
qualifying tyres but today the team worked well and we found some good race
settings. For sure Troy is very fast not only in Superpole but also with the
race tyre but I will try my best to see what I can do. In any case starting on
the front row is the best thing here at Valencia."

There was less joy for James Toseland as the reigning champion failed to qualify
for Superpole due to a problem when there were just a few minutes remaining of
the morning's second and final qualifying hour. As a result the 24-year-old will
start from row 6 of the grid in tomorrow's two 23-lap races.

"I didn't make Superpole because I had a problem with the front end of the bike
three minutes before the end of the session and after I had changed the tyre I
went out again but just missed the flag by a couple of seconds" commented James.
"Unfortunately we've been going in the wrong direction during qualifying and
when you go in the wrong direction, it all becomes that bit more difficult. We
managed to sort out Friday's problems with the front suspension but then I had
no grip in the rear so we went back to yesterday's settings and that wasn't much
better. I'm on a factory Ducati so I know I shouldn't be in this position. You
can't really win races from 23rd on the grid, but I'm sure I can do a good race
pace tomorrow so let's see what we can salvage from here".

STARTING-GRID:

 1. Corser (Suzuki)        1m35.676s
 2. Vermeulen (Honda)      1m36.125s
 3. Laconi (Ducati Xerox)  1m36.356s
 4. Neukirchner (Honda)    1m36.447s
 5. Pitt (Yamaha)          1m36.558s
 6. Muggeridge (Honda)     1m36.565s
 7. Walker (Kawasaki)      1m36.847s
 8. Abe (Yamaha)           1m36.862s