Motorcyclenews wrote
MAX BIAGGI continued where he left off in Germany five weeks ago at Brno today when he produced a provisional pole position time that really turned up the heat on arch 500 title rival Valentino Rossi at the Czech GP.
Looking relaxed after a holiday in Ibiza during the summer break, Biaggi clocked the fastest ever lap of the Czech Republic circuit with a blistering 2.00.34. That was almost a second inside the previous best he set when claiming pole at Brno last year. And although not officially classed as a record lap because they are only taken from races, the time obliterated Alex Criville’s 1998 benchmark by two seconds – and was set using race tyres, not qualifying rubber.
At the time Biaggi’s lap opened up a massive 1.1s gap on the rest and by the end he was still 0.7s ahead of second-placed Loris Capirossi, quickest this morning.
Brno is one Biaggi’s best tracks and in his last seven visits he’s walked away with 25 points on five occasions. And there was nothing on today’s evidence to suggest that anybody will be able to stop him taking the spoils again come Sunday afternoon.
Biaggi, who tested at Brno earlier this month, said: \" I’ve got to be satisfied with that. It’s unbelievable. When I went over the line I couldn’t believe the time. What makes it more satisfying is that it was nine tenths faster than my pole last year and I was using qualifiers then. \" The 500 champions from the last two years – Criville and Kenny Roberts – completed the front row.
Rossi - who has only qualified 11th in the last two races - was once again down the order, this time having to settle for seventh, 1.4s adrift of Biaggi.
PROVISIONAL GRID
1 Max Biaggi, Italy (Yamaha YZR500)
2 Loris Capirossi, Italy (Honda NSR500)
3 Kenny Roberts, USA (Suzuki RGV500)
4 Alex Criville, Spain (Honda NSR500)
5 Garry McCoy, Australia (Yamaha YZR500)
6 Alex Barros, Brazil (Honda NSR500)
7 Valentino Rossi, Italy (Honda NSR500)
8 Carlos Checa, Spain (Yamaha YZR500)
9 Norifumi Abe, Japan (Yamaha YZR500)
10 Jurgen Vd Goorbergh, Holland (Proton KR)
11 Olivier Jacque, France (Yamaha YZR500)
12 Sete Gibernau, Spain (Suzuki RGV500)
13 Jose Luis Cardoso, Spain (Yamaha YZR500)