Superpole three

Davide Giugliano 1’34.676

Eugene Laverty 1’34.934

Althea Racing’s Davide Giugliano bagged his first World Superbike pole after he snatched the first spot on the grid from GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies.

The Italian clinched his maiden pole with two minutes of the session remaining with a 1’34.833 lap, knocking the tall Welshman off the top of the timesheets and to second on the starting grid for tomorrow’s main races.

Davies stormed to a provisional pole position after only his first lap, but he could not improve on his 1’34.833 time and Giugliano went two tenths of a second faster in Superpole three.

Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty was setting consistent times which were enough to see him rounding off the front row. Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea makes up the start of the second row and will be joined by GoldBet BMW’s Marco Melandri and Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa.

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes started off the Superpole sessions in a positive fashion after topping both of the timesheets in the earlier qualifiers. But on his flying lap he crashed at turn 3 and even though he tried hard to get the bike started again, it was of no use and the Huddersfield lad had to make his way to the pits, and contend with a third row start alongside Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel and injured Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli.

Superpole two

Tom Sykes 1’34.546

It was déjà vu again for Sykes as he propelled himself to the top of the timesheets once again, after only his second lap with a 1’34.546. The Englishman was confident that he had done enough to secure his place in Superpole three and he reverted back to the warmth of his garage.

Davies improved from his early session and managed to lap in the 1’34’s to place him second quickest with a 1’34.950, four tenths of a second slower than his British counterpart. Checa has obviously recovered from his earlier crash as he bagged a provisional front row start.

Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier could not find the pace that only a few seconds before place him second quickest in Superpole 1, and even after attempting a last lap dash it was not enough for him to progress into the final session to fight for a front row start. MR Racing’s Max Neukirchner never made it out of the drop zone for the whole session, and neither did Kawasaki’s Loris Baz.

Crocked rider Sylvain Guintoli narrowly avoided elimination, as he was only three tenths of a second quicker than Camier, and was lucky that he made it into Superpole three.

ELIMINATED

Leon Camier

Max Neukirchner

Loris Baz

Superpole one

Tom Sykes 1’34.863

Carlos Checa 1’35.403

Sykes stormed to the top of the timesheets in the opening Superpole session after he put in a 1’34.863 lap, and was the only rider to lap in the 1’34’s. Fellow Brit Camier was not far off the Huddersfield riders pace, and his 1’35.349 lap was enough to place him second quickest with Checa third fastest.

Rea, Baz and Guintoli were all hovering near the drop zone, but the Pata Honda rider used his last lap to go from eleventh to seventh, to secure his way into Superpole two, with Davies following close behind.

It was not a good session for Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam. After only three laps he could not make his way from the bottom of the timesheets.

But he did put in a lap time to push him up to ninth, but it was not to last and when the chequered flag appeared the Smalley rider was in the elimination zone, alongside Ducati Alstare’s Ayrton Badovini, and Red Devils Roma rider, Michel Fabrizio. The Italian was the only rider to crash t the Moscow circuit in the first Superpole session, but was unhurt after falling at turn 11.

ELIMINATED

Leon Haslam

Ayrton Badovini

Michel Fabrizio

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