Phillip Island World Superbikes: Bayliss takes pole despite injury
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Troy Bayliss took pole position
Troy Bayliss amazed everyone today by taking pole position for the Phillip Island round of the World Superbike championship despite having a crash only hours before that left him with eight stitches in his elbow.
Bayliss highsided out of the final qualifying session just moments after setting the fastest lap and cast serious doubt on whether he could be competitive in superpole.
But the Aussie rider proved he could do it by setting the fastest lap in the final free practice session and then going on to put in the fastest ever superbike lap of Phillip Island in his Superpole run.
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Troy Corser looked to be the favourite to take pole after Bayliss’ injury but the Yamaha rider couldn’t even get close to his fellow countryman’s time.
Michel Fabrizio continued to sit in third position as the top four riders in qualifying took exactly the same spots in Superpole.
Carlos Checa put in an amazing performance to take the final place on the front row of the grid which is even more impressive if you consider the poor performance of his team-mates Keenan Sofuoglu and Ryuichi Kiyonari.
Max Biaggi had a disastrous Superpole session. The Sterilgarda Ducati rider broke the end of his gear selector in the close stages of his out lap so had to pull in to the pits.
The penalty for not completing a single lap in Superpole sees him move back to 16th place on the grid.
Grid positions:
- T. BAYLISS
- T. CORSER
- M. FABRIZIO
- C. CHECA
- F. NIETO
- J. SMRZ
- N. HAGA
- M. NEUKIRCHNER
- R. HOLLAND
- R. LACONI
- R. XAUS
- K. MUGGERIDGE
- R. ROLFO
- G. LAVILLA
- D. CHECA
- M. BIAGGI
- L. LANZI
- M. TAMADA
- R. KIYONARI
- S. GIMBERT
- K. SOFUOGLU
- S. NAKATOMI
- V. IANNUZZO
- S. AOYAMA
- A. BADOVINI
- L. MORELLI
- L. NAPOLEONE
