Superpole three
Tom Sykes 1'56.772
Max Biaggi 1'57.260
Eugene Laverty 1'57.592
Kawasaki's Tom Sykes has scorched to his sixth World Superbike pole position of the year at Motorland Aragon this afternoon, murdering the previous best lap set by Marco Melandri in the second session, circulating in 1'56.772 and be the only man to get into the 1'56s bracket.
Max Biaggi claimed second place with team-mate Eugene Laverty in third while Leon Haslam was able to keep BMW team-mate behind him and on the second row with his 1'57.710. After setting the pace early on, Melandri ran out of qualifiers and will begin both races in fifth place.
Jonathan Rea, who had never ridden the track until Friday morning, set the sixth fastest time with reigning champion Carlos Checa next to him and Chaz Davies in eighth. The Parkingo Aprilia man made an error on his first fast lap, running on at the end of the back straight.
Superpole two
Marco Melandri 1'57.207
Max Biaggi 1'57.296
Eugene Laverty 1'57.467
Melandri scorched to top spot in the second session, setting a new best lap in the process but he was chased hard by the Aprilia pairing of Biaggi and Laverty, the latter jumping up to third place from a potential relegation position with his final circuit.
Davies also rescued himself with his last lap, going round in 1'57.682 but his time put Rea down into the drop zone. The Irishman, who has had to learn this Spanish circuit fast, responded with a 1'57.822 for seventh which meant it was squeaky bum time for Haslam as he slid into eighth place but there was no-one else on a fast lap as the session ended.
ELIMINATED
Sylvain Guintoli
Ayrton Badovini
Davide Guigliano
Jakub Smrz
Superpole one
Carlos Checa 1'57.756
Max Biaggi 1'57.881
Marco Melandri 1.57.931
Checa continued the form he found in this morning's second free practice session, taking top spot with his final lap of the session and negating the speed deficit he has compared to the Aprilias and BMWs that are behind him with some awesome corner speed on the 1198.
Guintoli, who crashed heavily earlier today, also managed to sneak into the second session, pulling himself from the relegation zone to sixth place but at a cost to Leon Camier. The Fixi Suzuki man was on the cusp of dropping out and the Frenchman's lap cemented his fate as it did that of Michel Fabrizio who also didn't make it through.
ELIMINATED
Michel Fabrizio
Leon Camier
Loris Baz
Lorenzo Zanetti
