Bayliss wins Superpole
Troy Bayliss is on pole for Saturday’s opening WSB round in Qatar after Friday’s Superpole.
He was the only rider to go under the two minute barrier. Karl Muggeridge was on course to beat two minutes – and had recorded a sub 2 minute time in free practice (1:59.934) but crashed towards the end of his lap when his front end washed out. He did not appear to be injured. He will start from eighth.
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Lorenzo Lanzi impressed with a second fastest to make it a Ducati 1-2 while Andrew Pitt claimed third.
Both Bayliss and Lanzi took the unusual step of running race tyres in the one-lap Superpole. Ducati Corse judged that the performance of the Pirelli race tyre on the 999 was better than the qualifying tyre over the entire lap.
“It feels great to be back in Superbikes and it’s always nice to have pole position” said Troy. “I actually expected to do a little better in Superpole but I did enough to get pole and I’m happy with that.
“It feels great to start on the front row alongside Troy” added Lanzi, “I believe that I showed, in qualifying and the Superpole, that I can be up there at the front.”
Britain’s James Toseland moved up the order compared to his qualifying time, to claim the fourth and final place on the front row.
For full list of times, see below.
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Superpole result: Order dictates starting positions on grid.
Brackets indicates points scored in MCN Fantasy Road Racing for this Superpole result
1. Bayliss: 1.59.969 (5)
2. Lanzi: 2:00.028 (4)
3. Pitt: 2:00.110 (3)
4. Toseland:2:00.112 (2)
5. Corser: 2:00.206 (1)
6. Haga:2:00.613
7. Kagayama:2:00.895
8. Muggeridge: (will start from eighth after crashing)
9. Martin: 2:00.940
10. Barros: 2:00.960
11. Rolfo: 2:01.072
12. Walker: 2:01.137
13. Nieto: 2:01.155
14. Chili: 2:02.038
15. Fabrizio: 2:02.596
16. Borciani: 2:03.150
Friday morning’s Qualifying 2 (time quoted best of Q1 and Q2 sessions)
1. Bayliss – Ducati – 2:00.639
2. Muggeridge – Honda – 2’00.745
3. Pitt – Yamaha – 2’00.818
4. Corser – Suzuki – 2’01.008
5. Haga – Yamaha – 2’01.314
6. Lanzi – Ducati – 2’01.369
7. Kagayama – Suzuki – 2’01.579
8. Martin – Petronas FP1 – 2’01.613
9. Toseland – Honda – 2’01.692
10. Chili – Honda – 2’01.781
11. Nieto – Kawasaki – 2’01.809
12. Barros – Honda – 2’01.953
13. Walker – Kawasaki – 2’01.975
14. Rolfo – Ducati – 2’02.020
15. Fabrizio – Honda – 2’02.437
16. Borciani – Ducati – 2’02.449
The following do not take part in Superpole
17. Laconi 18. Gimbert 19.Abe. 20. Neukirchner 21.Xaus 22.Clementi 23. Pedercini, 24. Nakatomi 25. Foret 26. Iannuzzo 27. Battaini
Not qualified – but still likely to race: Al Naimi, C Jones
In Supersport, Sebastien Charpentier is on pole, from Ten Kate team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu. Kevin Curtain is third quickest. BSB star Dean Thomas is 18th, just behind fellow Australian Anothony Gobert. British rider Tom Tunstall is 23rd on his World Supersport debut.
