Endurance: Parkes impresses for seventh in Suzuka superpole

MCE British Superbike new signing Broc Parkes has impressed during superpole qualifying for tomorrow’s Suzuka 8 Hour, by taking the Yamaha Austria machine to an impressive seventh place.

Running as one of only a handful of machines on Pirelli tyres against MotoGP-spec rubber from local firm Bridgestone, the result is an impressive one – albeit one Parkes is keen to repeat tomorrow in the race itself.

“Qualifying went pretty well today. I had to put a good lap down because I knew my time was going to be where we were on the grid. It wasn’t a bad lap, it wasn’t on the edge at all, I just tried to put the best one down I could and keep it smooth.

“It was a little bit warmer today so it was a little bit more difficult to put a lap down confidently but in general seventh on the grid is a good place to be for tomorrow and I think we can fight from there. The plan is to get a good start and try and go with the top guys and see how long I can hang in there and see what happens.”

Team boss Mandy Kainz was even more pleased with the performance, admitting afterwards that it was as good as they could have hoped for.

“We are very satisfied with seventh position in qualifying, this was the maximum we could do, more was not possible so we are really very happy with it. All is under control, we are ready to start tomorrow and see what we can do in the race.”