Superpole three

Tom Sykes 1’27.378

Eugene Laverty – 1’28.014

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes blasted his way to the top of Superpole three, and will start tomorrow’s World Superbike race from pole position, after demolishing his previous Superpole lap record from last year, not once, not twice but three times.

On the Huddersfield lad’s first lap in Superpole three he clocked a lap time of 1’27.378, but on his second time around the Leicestershire circuit he did even better and set a 1’27.378 lap, and with that the rider bags himself his fourth Tissot watch of the year.

Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli was the only other rider in the final Superspole session to lap in the 1’27’s but he could not find that extra pace needed to take pole, and has to contend with second spot on the grid. He will not be the only Aprilia on the front row, team-mate Eugene Laverty set a time of 1’28.014, a second behind Guintoli and Sykes so he will start the race from the final place on the front row in third.

Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea narrowly missed out on a front row start, and takes up fourth place on the grid on the second row. He will be joined by fellow Brit, Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier, who did temporarily take up the first spot on the second row, only for Rea to overtake him on his final lap.

It was another battle between the two GoldBet BMW riders, with Marco Melandri coming out on top today. The Italian scrapped into the final spot on the second row with his time of 1’28.280. His Welsh team-mate Chaz Davies was a fraction off Melandri’s time and finds himself starting from the third row in the race tomorrow. He will be joined by Althea Racing’s Davide Guigliano and Ducati Alstare’s Niccolo Canepa, who may be just what the Italian team need.

Superpole two

Tom Sykes 1’27.560

Eugene Laverty 1’28.206

Sykes smashed his previous Superpole time of 1’27.716 on his first lap during Superpole two when he went across the line with a 1’27.560 lap. Guintoli made sure that he was going to keep up with the pace of the Huddersfield rider and also clocked a time in the 1’27 barrier, safely securing his place in Superpole three.

Laverty was not far behind and improved from the first Superpole session, where he was in danger of dropping out completely. Rea and Melandri were close to elimination, but were fortunately quicker than Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa, Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel and Kawasaki’s Loris Baz who all failed to progress into Superpole three.

Checa made a return this weekend to the World Superbike series after missing out on the races at Monza because of a shoulder injury, and will have to contend with starting the race tomorrow from the fourth row.

Cluzel made a last ditch attempt to get himself out of the drop zone, but it was not enough and it only moved the rider to eleventh, leaving Baz at the bottom of the timesheets in Superpole two.

ELIMINATED

Carlos Checa

Jules Cluzel

Loris Baz

Superpole one

Tom Sykes 1’28.194

Leon Camier 1’28.299

Sykes only had to complete three laps to storm to the top of Superspole one with a lap time of 1’28.194. Davies was languishing in the mid pack until his last lap in the final minutes of the session which propelled him up to second, followed closely by Camier.

It has been a tough and painful weekend for Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam, who is still suffering with a knee injury after crashing at Assen in April. He did clock the second fastest time on his first lap, but could not manage to produce a time to keep him out of the drop zone, and after faster laps from Baz and Cluzel the rider found himself eliminated, along with Ducati Alstare’s Ayrton Badovini and Red Devils Roma rider Michel Fabrizio.

There could have been two Ducati’s failing to make it into Superpole two, as Checa was hovering near the elimination zone, alongside Laverty, but on his last lap moved out of the drop zone.

ELIMINATED

Leon Haslam

Ayrton Badovini

Michel Fabrizio

Click here for times