Superpole three

Tom Sykes 1’45.981

Davide Giugliano 1’46.713

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes dominated every single one of the three World Superbike Superpole sessions in Imola, and pulverised the previous best lap he set last year, not once but twice this afternoon to take his sixth pole of the year.

Huddersfield's finest left it till his fifth lap to go storming to pole position with a 1’45.981 time on a race tyre, going nearly one second quicker than he did in Superpole two. In going fastest he knocked Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea off provisional pole, and the Northern Irishman will start tomorrow from second on the grid after a 1’46.556 lap. But Rea could not find that extra pace to lap in the 1’45’s and ended the afternoon 0.5 seconds slower than the Kawasaki of Sykes.

Local rider, Althea Racing’s Davide Giugliano was not going to let the Italian fans go home without a Roman on the front row, and put in an impressive 1’46.713 lap to catapult himself to a front row start.

Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli takes the first spot on the second row, and was only one tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Eugene Laverty. The two Aprilia’s are joined by Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier who could not push his bike to lap in the 1’46’s and had to settle for a respectable 1’47.165.

Italian’s GoldBet BMW’s Marco Melandri and Ducati Alstare’s Ayrton Badovini make up the third row, alongside Kawasaki’s Loris Baz.

The session was red flagged when Baz crashed with five minutes left at the Acque Minerali, and Superpole was delayed as oil and fuel had to be cleared from the track. The young Frenchman did not make it out on to the track for the remainder of the session, and will start the main races tomorrow from ninth on the grid.

Before the session was red flagged Rea was leading the session, followed by Guintoli and Giugliano, who all clocked times that placed them on a provisional front row.

Superpole two

Tom Sykes 1’46.542

Jonathan Rea 1’46.878

Sykes meant business in Superpole two as he smashed his previous best lap record he set last year by 0.2 seconds, with an impressive 1’46.542 time to propel him safely at the top of the timesheets, and after only two laps the Englishman had done enough to go through to Superpole three.

Badovini wanted to give his Italian fans something to be happy about and on his final lap set a 1’46.811 time to go second, pushing Rea down to third. Camier had a solid last lap too, and he went from the mid pack to third, but a last second charge from Badovini pushed the Kent lad to fourth.

Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam tried to get himself out of the elimination places, but he could only go from twelfth to eleventh, and it was not enough for him to progress into the final Superpole session of the day.

But Haslam was not the only Brit not to make it into Superpole three, GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies started the session in ninth, but had to watch as the likes of Kawasaki’s Loris Baz went faster, and even though the Welshman attempted a last lap dash, it was not enough and he will start the race tomorrow from the fourth row. Red Devils Roma rider Michel Fabrizio joins the BMW and Honda riders as he was unable to make it out of the drop zone.

ELIMINATED

Chaz Davies

Leon Haslam

Michel Fabrizio

Superpole one

Tom Sykes 1’46.855

Ayrton Badovini 1’47.272

Sykes set the pace in the opening Superpole session to go quickest with a 1’46.855 lap. Melandri left it till the chequered flag came out to pull himself from eleventh to second, and in doing so demoted fellow Italian Badovini down to third.

It was a close call for Haslam, as throughout the fifteen minute session he did find himself at the bottom of the timesheet, but with only minutes remaining the injured Brit managed to crawl himself out of danger to go twelfth with a 1’48.023 lap. Not far in front of the Smalley rider was fellow Brit, Davies who has struggled all weekend and just managed to cling on to go into Superpole two with the Powys based rider finishing the session in eleventh.

It was not a good afternoon for Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa who crashed at Variante Tamburello with ten minutes of the session left while he was in ninth. But as he was in the pits he had to watch the rest of the pack go faster, and eventually he was forced into the elimination zone, along with Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel and MR-Racing’s Max Neukirchner.

ELIMINATED

Carlos Checa

Jules Cluzel

Max Neukirchner

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