Shinya Nakano came within 0.013secs of taking his and Kawasaki's debut MotoGP pole position at Assen today, but is still confident of a season's best performance in Saturday's race.
The 28-year-old Japanese rider stole pole position early on in the hour long session around the freshly modified circuit, but was pushed back to second place by a hard charging Colin Edwards after 20 minutes at the top of the timesheet.
Nakano responded with ten minutes left on the clock, retaking pole position from the American and holding on almost to the chequered flag - but with just 14 seconds remaining, Nakano was knocked from the top by Suzuki's John Hopkins for a Bridgestone one-two.
"Everything came together for us today. The bike and tyres were working well, especially the qualifiers from Bridgestone, so I knew that pole position was a possibility," said Shinya afterwards. "In the end I lost out by the smallest amount, but the important thing is that I will start the race from the front row.
"As soon as practice started on Thursday it was obvious that there aren't many places to overtake on this new circuit, so a front row start is important if you are to avoid a difficult fight through the field. So, we achieved today what we set out to do, and now I need to make sure I get away cleanly from the line tomorrow, so I can take maximum advantage of starting with a clear track in front of me.
"On race tyres today I was able to lap consistently to stay in the top five on the timesheet, so our original aim for the weekend of securing our best result of the season so far is looking to be a very realistic possibility," he declared.
"With the changes made to the first part of the track, it seems that Assen probably suits the characteristics of our Ninja ZX-RR better than any other track on the calendar," confirmed team principal Harald Eckl. "Shinya was consistent on race tyres during practice and qualifying today, before switching to Bridgestone's qualifiers and putting in one of his best qualifying performances to date. He has given himself the best possible chance by qualifying on the front row, and I think he is capable of securing his, and Kawasaki's, best result of the season so far tomorrow."
Meanwhile, rookie team-mate Randy de Puniet was disappointed to finish 11th fastest overall, and knows that starting from the fourth row of the grid will make for a hard race tomorrow
"This afternoon was disappointing; I was actually quicker during this morning's free practice session," revealed Randy. "The problem is the first section of the track, I just can't seem to find the right line, especially through the long, right-hand Ossebroeken turn. Even when I was behind Colin Edwards through this section, I just didn't seem to be able to follow the same lines as he was taking, and I still lost time.
"It's frustrating, because my times through the remaining sectors are good, but the new section loses me too much time on every lap. The only thing I can do is to try some variations to my line through Ossebroeken tomorrow during warm up, and I hope we can find some improvement before the race. Starting from the fourth row of the grid doesn't make my job any easier in tomorrow's race but, as always, I'll be pushing as hard as I can to get the best result possible," he declared.
Yamaha rider Edwards will join Nakano and Hopkins on Saturday's front row.
