Latest World Superbike Results

As the riders, apart from Leon Haslam who decided to sit the race out, lined up on the grid, Tom Sykes was missing. He had crashed on the sighting lap, but he got his Kawasaki towed back to the pits with ten minutes for his team to rebuild the front cowl. If his bike were put back in the garage, that would be his race over, so his team brought their tools and mechanics out to the pit lane to frantically try to get his bike ready. As it was, he had to start from the pit lane, hoping that the small grid would allow him to score a couple of points.

Qualifying at Portimão was all about dodging the rain. As the clouds loomed pendulously overhead, riders had to time their runs in Superpole well, in case the rain fell. As it was, after the first session, Superpole two was rapidly abandoned and, along with Superpole three, it was replaced with a single wet 20 minute session. It didn't rain.

The top riders that qualified into the Superpole sessions knew that they didn't need to set records in the first session as they wanted what all Superpole One contenders wanted; a ticket to Superpole Two. The unpredictable weather would catch the organisers out, playing for safety trumping the planned schedule. Qualifying tyres were once again coloured with a pink band instead of the usual yellow.

Sheridan Morais and Jack Kennedy headed off Sam Lowes and Kenan Sofuoglu in a session whose top four was contained within two tenths of a second. Michael Van Der Mark and Fabien Foret both showed signs of recovery filling out the provisional second row.

Results:

In response to the announcement that new rules will be coming into play in 2014, with the aim of making Superbike racing more affordable and with more competitive machines on the grid, Jonathan Rea put his beleaguered Honda Fireblade in provisional pole position, ahead of the two men that won here last year.

Rea has never won at Portimão, but he's been on the podium every year since 2009 and he was even in fourth place in 2008 when he switched over from World Supersport for the last race of the year and his first ever weekend on the Ten Kate Superbike. It's safe to say he goes well here. Unfortunately, so do Eugene Laverty and Tom Sykes. Sykes won race one here in 2012, from, as will come as a shock to precisely nobody, pole position, but DNFed in a second race won by Laverty, as part of his late-year discovery of form and electronics.

Sam Lowes once again sets provisional pole, half a second faster than his rival Kenan Sofuoglu. Jack Kennedy continues to impress with the last provisional front row place. while David Salom, fourth fastest and returning from injury, is the only other rider within a second of the fast Lowes. 

Results:

After a damn grey morning, Sam Lowes opened the weekend with a fastest lap some five seconds off the record, demonstrating that the track wasn't ready for the fast times. The session was split with a red flagged six minutes from the end, but there were no major incidents recorded.

Results: