Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes became the most successful WorldSBK qualifier at Donington Park today when he surpassed Troy Corser’s long-standing record of 43 pole positions as he claimed his 44th.
Sykes stuck in a 1’26.663 to go three-tenths faster than team-mate Jonathan Rea despite almost running wide as he exited Goddards and cross the line to re-write the record books. A resurgent Loris Baz took third on his Althea BMW, putting Pirelli’s Q-tyre to good use.
It was Sykes second pole of the season, at what has been his most successful track in recent WorldSBK history.
Sykes timed his final run perfectly, having been on top in Superpole 2 until his team-mate Jonathan Rea moved him to second with his final lap.
Sykes, some way behind on track, still had one go left and despite a scary slide exiting the final corner onto the finish straight, he set a 1’26.663 lap, just outside his own lap record pace from 2017. This put him 0.293 seconds ahead of Rea.
With Troy Corser sitting in the paddock show and commentating as Sykes and co. went about their SP2 qualifying business, Donington witnessed some pre-race history with Sykes’ latest Superpole win, in dry but overcast conditions.
His team even had a Superman-style cape for the 2013 world champion to wear, to celebrate his unique WorldSBK superpower in the presentation ceremony. He said, “I could not have picked a better circuit. It is a good day and the bike set-up is working really well.”
In a surprise third place, Baz used his qualifying tyre to the full and he had his best Superpole performance since coming back into the Superbike class.
The second row for race one will be headed by Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), from the Pata Yamaha pairing of Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark.
Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) was seventh, while Superpole one rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki went eighth.
Also having to come from Superpole one, Chaz Davies (Aruba Ducati) was only ninth in SP2 - his team-mate Marco Melandri was an even more disappointed 12th.
Local wildcards Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished tenth and 11th in Superpole two.