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SBK Kyalami, qualifying: Sheridan Morais 11th In Superpole

In SBK

17 maggio 2009

SBK Kyalami, qualifying: Sheridan Morais 11th In Superpole

Local track knowledge and a determined attitude took stand-in Kawasaki World Superbike Team rider Sheridan Morais to an outstanding 11th place on the Kyalami grid.

Regular rider Broc Parkes made it into Superpole despite still carrying painful injuries, but could not progress beyond the first stage. He will start the two 24-lap races on Sunday from the fifth row of the grid.

Morais was on the pace throughout practice in his first ever WSB weekend racing for the UK-based Kawasaki World Superbike Racing team. He muscled his Ninja ZX-10R around his home track bumps and frequent changes of direction to a highly creditable 11th out of 24 riders.

The intensely physical nature of the Kyalami track was bad news for Parkes, who found the South African circuit a more difficult place to ride around than the previous venue of Monza. Despite lingering injuries Parkes made the top 20 of Superpole, and was only one place away from moving into the second Superpole qualifying session, ending up 17th.

Times in qualifying were particularly close at some stages of the weekend, with Morais sixth in the second regular pre-Superpole session, only 0.405 seconds from Michel Fabrizio, who was in the vanguard of every session except Superpole itself, which was won again by Ben Spies.

Broc Parkes: “It’s been a little bit tough this weekend, physically, a lot harder here than Monza. It’s held me back a little bit and we have had a few dramas getting my chassis set-up right. We can’t quite get it working the way we want. I have been struggling quite a bit, basically because my body is holding me back. It’s a problem made worse by the whole nature of the track and you don't even get a rest on the main straight. Tomorrow will be really tough but we will try to do the best job we can.”

Sheridan Morais: “It has been good, and I have never ridden on slicks before. Trying to get used to that took me some time and the qualifying tyre is something else. Unfortunately I only got two laps on the qualifiers but the team seems pretty happy and hopefully we can do the business tomorrow. There are a lot of fast changes of direction here so it’s very physical track, but I have been training really hard.”