Submitted by Jared Earle on
World Superbike Superpole started the first session at the new early time and eleven riders competed for the two spots in the second session, with Eugene Laverty and Leon Camier the favourites to promote themselves.
Leon Camier opened the session with a 1'38.106, but Eugene Laverty pushed him down a spot on his first lap. Camier's second lap put him back on top only for Laverty's second lap of 1'37.617 to depose him once again as the riders headed to the mid-session break. Laverty and Camier were over six tenths clear of Tati Mercado's third placed time before the break.
Eugene Laverty waited in the pits, saving his tyre allocation for Superpole two, as Leon Camier put himself on top with a 1'37.520 as the session wound down. Toprak Razgatlioglu then sneaked under Laverty's time by six hundredths of a second as Camier stretched his advantage by another tenth of a second with a 1'37.410.
Leon Camier and Toprak Razgatlioglu advanced to the second session where they would get a chance to improve their places while Eugene Laverty headed the fifth row alongside Jake Gagne and Jordi Torres.
Jonathan Rea was the first rider to record a lap time in the second session, and it was the quickest of the first laps, beating Xavi Fores, Tom Sykes and Alex Lowes with a 1'36.726. Rea pitted in after his quick lap as others stayed out for one more bite of the cherry. Tom Sykes got to just about within two tenths of a second of Rea before pitting in for quicker tyres. The factory Ducatis of Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri sat at the bottom of the pack in eleventh and twelfth on race tyres, over a second off Rea's pace.
Jonathan Rea took advantage of his early pit in to head out on the yellow-labelled rear tyre, recording a 1'35.843, breaking the qualifying record by half a second and popping a stand up wheelie down the straight before returning to his garage to watch everyone try to catch him.
As almost everyone's laps dropped away from being able to take the top spot, there was one rider out on track who still had red markers on their lap; Tom Sykes snatched pole position from his teammate with a bonkers 1'35.696. Lorenzo Savadori and Xavi Fores were the only other riders to get within a second of Tom Sykes, wit Savadori joining the Kawasakis on the front row and Xavi Fores heading the second row ahead of Alex Lowes and a resurgent Chaz Davies.
Qualifying Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Speed |
1 | 66 | T. SYKES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.696 | 291,9 | |
2 | 1 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.843 | 0.147 | 292,7 |
3 | 32 | L. SAVADORI | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 1'36.564 | 0.868 | 288,8 |
4 | 12 | X. FORES | Ducati Panigale R | 1'36.613 | 0.917 | 275,5 |
5 | 22 | A. LOWES | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'36.765 | 1.069 | 282,7 |
6 | 7 | C. DAVIES | Ducati Panigale R | 1'36.954 | 1.258 | 293,5 |
7 | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale R | 1'36.999 | 1.303 | 285,0 |
8 | 76 | L. BAZ | BMW S 1000 RR | 1'37.055 | 1.359 | 292,7 |
9 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'37.103 | 1.407 | 294,3 |
10 | 60 | M. VAN DER MARK | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'37.239 | 1.543 | 295,1 |
11 | 2 | L. CAMIER | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.398 | 1.702 | 295,1 |
12 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | Ducati Panigale R | 1'37.595 | 1.899 | 292,7 |
13 | 50 | E. LAVERTY | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 1'37.617 | 0.207 | 285,7 |
14 | 45 | J. GAGNE | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.747 | 0.337 | 285,0 |
15 | 81 | J. TORRES | MV Agusta 1000 F4 | 1'38.129 | 0.719 | 290,3 |
16 | 36 | L. MERCADO | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'38.176 | 0.766 | 293,5 |
17 | 99 | P. JACOBSEN | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'38.878 | 1.468 | 291,1 |
18 | 40 | R. RAMOS | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'39.188 | 1.778 | 286,5 |
19 | 11 | J. GUARNONI | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'39.490 | 2.080 | 279,1 |
20 | 96 | J. SMRZ | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'39.713 | 2.303 | 270,7 |
21 | 121 | M. LUSSIANA | Aprilia RSV4 RF |
Superpole One:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Speed |
1 | 2 | L. CAMIER | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.410 | 295,9 | |
2 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'37.557 | 0.147 | 292,7 |
3 | 50 | E. LAVERTY | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 1'37.617 | 0.207 | 285,7 |
4 | 45 | J. GAGNE | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.747 | 0.337 | 285,0 |
5 | 81 | J. TORRES | MV Agusta 1000 F4 | 1'38.129 | 0.719 | 290,3 |
6 | 36 | L. MERCADO | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'38.176 | 0.766 | 293,5 |
7 | 99 | P. JACOBSEN | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'38.878 | 1.468 | 291,1 |
8 | 40 | R. RAMOS | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'39.188 | 1.778 | 286,5 |
9 | 11 | J. GUARNONI | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'39.490 | 2.080 | 279,1 |
10 | 96 | J. SMRZ | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'39.713 | 2.303 | 270,7 |
Superpole Two:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Speed |
1 | 66 | T. SYKES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.696 | 291,9 | |
2 | 1 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.843 | 0.147 | 292,7 |
3 | 32 | L. SAVADORI | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 1'36.564 | 0.868 | 288,8 |
4 | 12 | X. FORES | Ducati Panigale R | 1'36.613 | 0.917 | 275,5 |
5 | 22 | A. LOWES | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'36.765 | 1.069 | 282,7 |
6 | 7 | C. DAVIES | Ducati Panigale R | 1'36.954 | 1.258 | 293,5 |
7 | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale R | 1'36.999 | 1.303 | 285,0 |
8 | 76 | L. BAZ | BMW S 1000 RR | 1'37.055 | 1.359 | 292,7 |
9 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'37.103 | 1.407 | 294,3 |
10 | 60 | M. VAN DER MARK | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'37.239 | 1.543 | 295,1 |
11 | 2 | L. CAMIER | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.398 | 1.702 | 295,1 |
12 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | Ducati Panigale R | 1'37.595 | 1.899 | 292,7 |
Comments
Go Tom !
Team Kawasaki first & second then almost 3/4 of a second to Savadori, from him back to Marco Melandri is about one second covering ten riders.