Corser on French pole

Sebastien Charpentier has kept his World Supersport title hopes alive by taking pole position for the final race of the series on Sunday.

The Frenchman posted a time of 1:42.506, over half a second quicker than Kenan Sofuoglu in second and Broc Parkes, who will start from third. Current championship leader Kevin Curtain will start from fifth for Yamaha, and with an 18 point lead in the title race.

British riders Stuart Easton and Tom Tunstall will be hoping for some luck in the final round, with Easton starting from 30th position and Tunstall 33rd on the grid.

Supersport grid.

Charpentier S. 1’42.506

Sofuoglu K. 1’43.097

Parkes B. 1’43.514

Checa D. 1’43.763

Curtain K. 1’43.765

Fujiwara K. 1’44.032

Nannelli G. 1’44.170

Roccoli M. 1’44.238

Stigefelt J. 1’44.367

Chambon S. 1’44.371

Harms R. 1’44.430

Vizziello G. 1’44.452

Foret F. 1’44.553

Sanchini M. 1’44.556

De Angelis W. 1’44.638

Sanna S. 1’44.718

Sanna S. 1’44.718

Veneman B. 1’45.044

Andersen K. 1’45.081

Van Keymeulen D. 1’45.176

Tiberio Y. 1’45.199

Zaiser C. 1’45.296

Peris C. 1’45.299

Perret D. 1’45.616

Leblanc G. 1’45.765

Kallio V. 1’45.800

Velini A. 1’45.821

Praia M. 1’45.892

Vos A. 1’45.910

Easton S. 1’46.139

Corradi A. 1’46.158

Corradi A. 1’46.158

Tunstall T. 1’46.287

Ivanov V. 1’46.745

Günther J. 1’46.777

Duterne S. 1’46.805

Lauslehto T. 1’46.821

Metro T. 1’46.911

Nedog L. 1’47.629

Troy Corser has put himself on pole position for the final round of the World Superbike championship – and his final ride on the Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The Australian former champion will switch to Yamaha for 2007, but posted a time of 1:39.147 to take pole for Suzuki, from Britain’s James Toseland and Italian Lorenzo Lanzi. Karl Muggeridge was fourth, ahead of Corser’s new team-mate for next year, Noriyuki Haga. New champion Troy Bayliss was sixth quickest, while British rider Chris Walker was 11th.

World Superbike Superpole:

Corser T. 1’39.147

Toseland J. 1’39.355

Lanzi L. 1’39.773

Muggeridge K. 1’39.911

Haga N. 1’39.914

Bayliss T. 1’39.944

Neukirchner M. 1’39.961

Kagayama Y. 1’40.079

Pitt A. 1’40.090

Nieto F. 1’40.270

Walker C. 1’40.307

Gimbert S. 1’40.613

Barros A. 1’41.113

Nakatomi S. 1’41.412

Laconi R. 1’41.475

Fabrizio M. 1’41.975

Did not qualify for Superpole:

Chili P. 1’41.828

Abe N. 1’41.993

Rolfo R. 1’42.155

Clementi I. 1’42.334

Martin S. 1’42.479

Brookes J. 1’42.777

Roberts K. 1’43.263

Iannuzzo V. 1’43.750

Jones C. 1’44.020

Goi I. 1’44.567

Drazdak J. 1’46.935