Superpole two

Sylvain Guintoli 1'54.276

Marco Melandri 1'55.971

Effenbert Ducati's Sylvain Guintoli has taken pole position for tomorrow's World Superbike double-header at Monza tomorrow with a final flying lap that just denied Kawasaki's Tom Sykes who was on course to beat the Frenchman's existing fastest time.

Guintoli was sitting at the top of the table in a drying session and Sykes was on course through the first two sectors to bag his fourth pole position in a row but Guintoli had other ideas and upped his pace to keep the Huddersfield man behind him by nearly three-quarters of a second. Sykes had a moment exiting the first chicane when he was nearly in collision with a touring Davide Guigliano.

BMW's Marco Melandri had set the pace early on, going two seconds faster than the pack but as the track dried and slick tyres replaced wets, he slid down to third place with Carlos Checa in fourth. The reigning champion took full advantage of the wet conditions that negate the top speed advantage his rivals over him but he was still 2.5s off the pace.

Honda's Jonathan Rea heads the second row with Max Biaggi, who ran across the first chicane and into the gravel, next to him while Jakub Smrz and Guigliano rounding out row two.

Superpole one

Marco Melandri 1'57.545

Sylvain Guintoli 1'57.708

The opening session was something of a disaster for the British contingent with Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam, Leon Camier and Irishman Eugene Laverty all failing to make it through. Laverty's Aprilia chunked a rear wet early with bits hurtling off it like small missiles, and a new one just didn't have enough grip to see him through.

Camier put in a late lap to try and go through but he was just edged out while Leon Haslam tried the very same thing but just couldn't find the pace. At the front, Sykes looked to have blown something in his motor on the start/finish straight early on but he recovered to take second behind Melandri while Guintoli led for a majority of the session before coming back with a lap good enough for third place.

ELIMINATED

John Hopkins

Eugene Laverty

Michel Fabrizio

Leon Camier

Ayrton Badovini

Leon Haslam

David Salom

Chaz Davies

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