WSB Misano Superpole: Sykes claims Superpole number five

Tom Sykes secured a brilliant Superpole win at Misano after dominating the second twenty minute session this afternoon. The factory Kawasaki rider cruised through Superpole 1 after making big changes to his ZX-10R to cope with the hot track conditions and was the man in total control in Superpole 2. At one stage he enjoyed a full second advantage to his closet rival, but his advantage was finally reduced to 0.6s.

Speaking to MCN, he said: “There is no question it’s been a difficult weekend so far so to come from where we were on the first day to this is a good result. Our bike works well on the qualifying tyres, the Superpole win is good, I just wish it was a race win.”

Second place went to Jonathan Rea who has been in sparkling form all weekend onboard his Honda Superbike. The 25 year old set a best lap of 1.35.991 and is well placed to build upon his win and podium in the last two rounds.

He said: “Second place was the best we could do today because Tom really was out of reach. I’m excited about tomorrow though, the temperature should be hotter and that should suit us.”

Goldbet BMW Italia rider Ayrton Badovini secured a surprise third place after timing his final run and use of his second qualifying tyre to perfection. He finished ahead of hard charging Italian Davide Giugliano.

The second row is made up of Effenbert Liberty Ducati rider Jakub Smrz with Brit Leon Haslam in sixth place onboard his factory BMW. Eugene Laverty secured his best qualifying performance of 2012 following a weekend that has gone progressively better each time he has been out on track.

Following rain moments before the start of Superpole it was declared wet meaning that it was run over two 20 minute sessions with eight riders going out at the end of Superpole 1.

The biggest losers of the revised format were the three most experienced riders on the grid – Max Biaggi, Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa who all failed to make the cut. It remains unclear exactly what happened but Checa came into the pits, presumably to fit a qualifying tyre, but there wasn’t enough time for him to get back out on track meaning that he was unable to improve his time and slumped to 16th place.

Biaggi was also a big loser when he got bumped out of the top eight in the final seconds of the session to tenth and Melandri never showed the expected pace and will start the race in 13th place and on the fourth row of the grid.

Misano Adriatico – FIM Superbike World Championship – Superpole 2

 

1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.375

2. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.991

3. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’36.083

4. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’36.147

5. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1’36.183

6. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’36.283

7. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’36.365

8. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’36.559

9. Matteo Baiocco (Barni Racing Team Italia) Ducati 1098R 1’37.509

10. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’37.686

11. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’37.704

12. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’37.796

13. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’37.806

14. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’37.985

15. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’38.078

16. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’38.977

17. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’36.934

18. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’37.168

19. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1’37.202

20. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’37.250

21. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’37.312

22. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’37.688

23. Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’38.674

24. Federico Sandi (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1’40.251