Superpole three

Tom Sykes 1'46.748

Factory Kawasaki's Tom Sykes has murdered the outright lap record at Imola on his way to World Superbike pole position this afternoon and is the only man to break the 1'47s barrier all weekend, adding another Tissot watch to the one he gained at Phillip Island.

Sykes was half a second faster than the Effenbert Ducati of Sylvain Guintoli while reigning champion Carlos Checa, who is some 14kph down on top speed, put it in third while BMW's Leon Haslam parked his S1000RR on the outside of the front row with a 1'47.458 set on a race tyre.

Aprilia's Max Biaggi could only manage fifth place on the works RSV4, just ahead of Marco Melandri while Jonathan Rea walked away from a massive highside on the exit of Villeneuve and had to settle for seventh place while Joan Lascorz, on the second Kawasaki, rounds out row two.

Superpole two

Tom Sykes 1'47.058

Max Biaggi 1'47.398

Sykes once again showed he could run with Checa even after taking to the grass on the exit of Tamburello, dipping underneath last year's fastest time with Biaggi coming out of the pits after an apparent front brake problem to take third place but some three-tenths slower than the Huddersfield man.

Guintoli was once again in the fray as was Haslam who set his 1'47.521 on a race tyre for fifth but it was bad news for Aprilia's Eugene Laverty, who was also in the garage until the final minutes and set out for a final lap but couldn't make it happen and he finished in 11th place for a third-row spot. Yesterday's fastest man Jakub Smrz was also relegated. Davide Guigliano, on the second Althea Ducati, was in the gravel twice and then crashed out.

ELIMINATED

Lorenzo Zanetti

Jakub Smrz

Eugene Laverty

Davide Guigliano

Superpole one

Carlos Checa 1'47.005

Tom Sykes 1'47.251

Checa obliterated his outright lap record to set the fastest time ever for a Superbike around Imola with Guintoli also under the benchmark from last year while Sykes was easily quick enough to stay in the top three.

Haslam did one flying lap to secure his spot in the second session, putting in his quickest lap of the weekend and Biaggi went fourth with his final lap. It was bad news for Leon Camier who could only muster 1'48.415 and was in the pits when the chequered flag came out, putting an end to his Superpole session with the new-spec engine from Yoshimura after a big moment on the qualifying tyre. Laverty also scraped in to the next session after a fall earlier on today.

ELIMINATED

Maxime Berger

Nico Canepa

Leon Camier

Ayrton Badovini

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