Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes bagged his 22nd career World Superbike pole at Portimao this afternoon, after he edged ahead of fellow Brit’s Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea and Ducati’s Chaz Davies.
Sykes stormed to the top of the timesheets after a 1’42.484, in the dying seconds of Superpole two, and his time was good enough to topple Rea from the top spot - after the Northern Irishman mustered up a 1’42.765. Welshman, Davies was only two tenths off the time clocked by Rea, and rounds up the front row.
At the start of Superpole two it was Leon Haslam who led the charge followed by his Pata Honda team-mate Jonathan Rea. The Smalley lad clocked a 1’43.682 to sit in the provisional pole spot with just under ten minutes remaining. But one minute later his colleague went one tenth quicker to push on a head, to top the timesheets.
But Sykes was not messing about and on his second flying lap went one-seven hundredths of a second faster than his fellow compatriot to soar to the top of the timing-screens on the eight minute mark.
With 30 seconds left of track time available to the riders Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli soared to the top of the timesheets, but was quickly bumped down the order by Rea and then Sykes – who was only one-one hundredths off his own lap record. Davies was also on a super fast last lap, but a 1’42.924 wasn’t enough for pole, but it was quick enough for a front row start.
Aprilia’s Marco Melandri heads row two, followed by Frenchmen Baz and Guintoli. Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty was not able to improve on his 1’43.245 time and starts on row three, which includes Ducati’s Davide Giugliano and Haslam. Barrier ended the afternoon as the leading Evo rider and will go from tenth on the grid.
Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes will start from the fourth row. The Derby-based rider crashed on what was looking to be his fastest lap of the weekend so far – but he fell into the gravel and had to settle for 11th on the grid, with a 1’43.840.
In Superpole one, after only a handful of minutes the red flags came out as Reparto Corse’s Claudio Corti crashed going into turn 9. At that point Barrier and Salom were the two leading riders in the group and were on course of progressing into Superpole two. Corsi has been taken to hospital for checks.
When the red flags disappeared the riders quickly made their way back on track. It was not a good session for Red Devils Roma’s Toni Elias as he experienced a technical problem and abruptly came to a halt, with eight minutes remaining – meaning he missed out on the chance of fighting for a front row start.
When the chequered flag appeared in the opening Superpole outing it was the Evo pairing of Kawasaki’s David Salom and BMW Italia’s Sylvain Barrier who were the two fastest riders in that session and swiftly made their way into Superpole two.
Alstare’s Christian Iddon tried a fast last lap dash, but he was not quick enough, but he did improve on his time to start from 15th on the starting grid for the double-header tomorrow, after a 1’44.971.
