Submitted by Jared Earle on
After a wet morning's practice, the Superpole session was dry. Michael van der Mark would not be taking place as he suffered a broken trapezium and radius in yesterday's FP2 crash along with a concussion.
Leon Haslam set the first benchmark lap with a 1'36.361, but on the second opportunity, his teammate Jonathan Rea pipped him with a 1'35.658, ahead of the Ducatis of Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies. Rea pitted in after his quick lap.
At the half-way mark, Jonathan Rea headed back out as Bautista still circulated. Rea improved his time with a 1'35.464 and was joined at the top with Sandro Cortese slipping into second place ahead of Leon Haslam. With eight minutes left, it was time to nip in and get the yellow-stickered tyres on.
Sandro Cortese beat Jonathan Rea and Michael Ruben Rinaldi only to be knocked down first by Alex Lowes, but Tom Sykes then took the top spot. Jonathan Rea and Sandro Cortese then demonstrated that the new qualifying tyres have more than one lap in them and knocked Sykes down to third.
When the flag came out, Jonathan Rea held pole position with a 1'34.596, ahead of Sandro Cortese and Tom Sykes. Alex Lowes headed the second row alongside Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam. Row three was all-Ducati, consisting of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Eugene Laverty's replacement Michele Pirro and Chaz Davies.
This is the first time Bautista missed qualifying on the front row, with Jonathan Rea on pole and Michael van der Mark not racing this weekend.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap | Speed |
| 1 | 1 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'34.596 | 268,7 | |
| 2 | 11 | S. CORTESE | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'34.951 | 0.355 | 266,0 |
| 3 | 66 | T. SYKES | BMW S1000 RR | 1'34.976 | 0.380 | 266,0 |
| 4 | 22 | A. LOWES | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'35.026 | 0.430 | 272,0 |
| 5 | 19 | A. BAUTISTA | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1'35.144 | 0.548 | 276,2 |
| 6 | 91 | L. HASLAM | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.215 | 0.619 | 270,0 |
| 7 | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1'35.226 | 0.630 | 273,4 |
| 8 | 51 | M. PIRRO | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1'35.451 | 0.855 | 272,0 |
| 9 | 7 | C. DAVIES | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1'35.600 | 1.004 | 271,4 |
| 10 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.610 | 1.014 | 264,7 |
| 11 | 81 | J. TORRES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'35.697 | 1.101 | 262,1 |
| 12 | 28 | M. REITERBERGER | BMW S1000 RR | 1'35.971 | 1.375 | 268,0 |
| 13 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'36.145 | 1.549 | 268,7 |
| 14 | 36 | L. MERCADO | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'36.214 | 1.618 | 267,3 |
| 15 | 97 | S. CAVALIERI | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1'36.226 | 1.630 | 266,7 |
| 16 | 76 | L. BAZ | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'36.538 | 1.942 | 264,1 |
| 17 | 87 | L. ZANETTI | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1'36.634 | 2.038 | 273,4 |
| 18 | 52 | A. DELBIANCO | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.171 | 2.575 | 267,3 |
| 19 | 72 | Y. TAKAHASHI | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'37.280 | 2.684 | 268,0 |
| 20 | 23 | R. KIYONARI | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'38.571 | 3.975 | 264,1 |
| 21 | 9 | D. SCHMITTER | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'38.979 | 4.383 | 262,1 |
Comments
Welcome back Tom Sykes
Congratulations Jonathan Rea another pole.
Best SBK qualifying for Sandro Cortese! I think.
Tom Sykes, Mr superpole back on the front row again, good to see. Guess the BMW project is making progress. Where is the hot engine?
And they all qualified better than AB !
Ducatis not starring in their SBK backyard. Hope this will be good for the racing & help tighten up the championship.
Thanks Jared.
Racing on Saturday, bring it on.
ok jared..
...just show me on the doll where the trapezium is...
Base of your thumb
There are two rows of little bones in yer wrist.
Between the last long bone at the base of yer thumb & the 2 bones in yer forearm ( radius & ulna) you've got the trapezium then the scaphiod then the radius.
Usually the trapezium heals faster than the scaphiod due to better blood supply.
Scaphiod often gets damaged when you put your hand out in front of you while going forward. Hand hits the ground & stops. Body continues forward bends the wrist & hand back too much, crunch.
Wrists
Not the things you want to break.
Ive arthritis around my scaphoid due to poor movement and blood supply after the trapezium and other bones werefused together by a surgeon after a car turned across in front of me !
I hope they get it to heal well !