Once again our American kid Ben Spies showed the world just how fast he is, this time at the Circuit van Drenthe in Assen, Holland. Keeping his streak alive, the young Texan progressed through the bracket-style three-round system, finally laying down a 1:37.626 on his factory Yamaha R1 to secure the top spot.

Even more impressive is how many of these tracks Spies has never even seen before showing up for Friday practice, Assen being another one. Contemplate that for a minute: three one-hour practice sessions to learn a totally new track and then beat some of the best in the world… The kid has talent!

Following him in the final timed session was Czech Jakub Smrz on a privateer Ducati. He has qualified well all season but is yet to mount a podium run come race day. Brit Leon Haslam on the Stiggy Motorsports Honda follows closely behind him and is joined by championship points leader Noriyuki Haga on the Xerox Ducati to round out the front row.

Haga’s teammate Michel Fabrizio heads up the second row with a strong performance, followed by Suzuki-mounted Max Neukirchner and Spain’s Carlos Checa on the Ten Kate Honda. Spies’ factory Yamaha teammate Tom Sykes was able to lay down a quick time at the end of the session, allowing him to take the final spot on the second row.

In other news, we got an update on American John Hopkins, who was injured in practice, dislocating his hip and cracking the top of his femur. In the team's press release Hopkins called the injury "the most painful of my life." It is reported he will now fly back to the United States to be further evaluated to see if surgery is needed and hopes to return to racing as soon as possible.

QUOTES:
Ben Spies - "I’m forced to pick up these tracks quickly so I have a chance to maybe put a little pressure on (Noriyuki) Haga. The bike is getting better and better, so that’s helping a lot. A lot of riders used their Qs (qualifying tires) in the first session and we didn’t. I was on a race tire, that combined with the fact that I never really put together a good lap in the first session, gave me a little stress there for a second, but we were able to sneak it in there to keep going to the next round. Once we were in the second session I knew we’d be OK."

Jakub Smrz - "We did a really good Superpole and the team did a great job. My bike is perfect, now we have to concentrate on the races tomorrow, because the last two weekends were not really lucky for me. We worked well on the race set-up, which seems to be OK. Now I just have to make a good start and follow the leaders or stay up at the front."

Leon Haslam - "It’s fantastic and a big credit to the team. The circuit for me has got a lot of history so to get a front row start I’m over the moon! Hopefully we can convert it into two podiums. John unfortunately will miss everything this weekend but the team has worked hard and I feel we’ve got a really good race set-up for tomorrow, hopefully we can give the British fans something to look at!"

Noriyuki Haga - "Unfortunately at the end of the free practice session I came off; I lost the front for no particular reason gong into the corner which was a bit of a surprise but anyway I wasn’t hurt and it did not affect my performance in Superpole. I’m not so happy with the level of grip but I think that it is something that we can resolve in the morning. We will see tomorrow in the warm-up. For the tires there is only one option for tomorrow so we are sorted there. I can tell that tomorrow we’ll have two tough races as the times are all very close but I feel we are in a position to fight to win both."



RESULTS:
1. Ben SPIES (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:37.626
2. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098R), 1:37.765
3. Leon HASLAM (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.072
4. Noriyuki HAGA (Ducati 1098 F09), 1:38.202
5. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098 F09), 1:38.215
6. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:38.353
7. Carlos CHECA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.640
8. Tom SYKES (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:38.790
9. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:38.288
10. Max BIAGGI (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:38.441
11. Jonathan REA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.510
12. Regis LACONI (Ducati 1098R), 1:38.521
13. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:38.802
14. Shane BYRNE (Ducati 1098R), 1:38.811
15. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 1:38.906
16. Ryuichi KIYONARI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:39.079
17. Tommy HILL (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:39.387
18. Brendan ROBERTS (Ducati 1098R), 1:39.390
19. Shinya NAKANO (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:39.569
20. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:39.643
21. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:40.496
22. David SALOM (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:40.572
23. Stuart EASTON (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:40.608
24. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:41.014
25. Makoto TAMADA (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:41.057
26. Matteo BAIOCCO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:41.062
27. Luca SCASSA (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:41.085
28. Roland RESCH (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:41.978