Yamaha’s Ben Spies secured pole position for Round 5 of the World Superbike championship. The American scored the coveted spot by winning the Saturday Superpole, just edging the strong qualifying performance of Xerox Ducati rider Michel Fabrizio, whose points-leading teammate, Noriyuki Haga, will start from fifth on the grid. Joining Spies and Fabrizio on the front row are Ten Kate Honda rider Ryuichi Kiyonari and Suzuki’s Max Neukirchner.

Spies will attempt to parley his front starting position into a pair of victories to close the 60-point gap on Haga. Fabrizio’s positive qualifying will have the Italian hoping for a podium on home soil, while Kiyonari and Neukirchner will try to repeat or improve on last year’s Monza results – the Japanese rider scoring a podium and Neukirchner claiming his first career SBK victory there in 2008.

All four up front must deal with Haga, whose recent dominance at Monza should mitigate any advantage lost by starting on Row 2. Joining the Ducati ace on the second row are Honda’s Jonathan Rea, Aprilia’s Max Biaggi and Suzuki’s Yukio Kagayama.

Carlos Checa leads Row 3, the former GP veteran piloting the Ten Kate CBR1000RR. Spies’s teammate, Tom Sykes joins Checa, alongside BMW S1000R rider Troy Corser and Ducati privateer Regis Laconi.

Kawasaki’s Broc Parkes leads the final row of Superpole qualifiers. Also on Row 4 are BMW’s second rider, Ruben Xaus, Ducati privateer Shane “Shakey” Byrne and Biaggi’s RSV4 comrade, Shinya Nakano.

One notable rider who missed the Superpole cut-off is the highest Honda points man, Stiggy Honda’s Leon Haslam. As for the British Superbike star’s temp teammate, Jake Zemke, the American was well off the qualifying pace in 25th – almost four seconds slower than his former AMA Superbike competitor Spies.

World Superbike Monza Superpole Results:
1 Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'44.073
2 Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1'44.270
3 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1'44.642
4 Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1'44.900
5 Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 1'45.096
6 Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1'45.170
7 Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'45.605
8 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 1'45.861
9 Carlos Checa (Honda) 1'45.166
10 Tom Sykes (Yamaha) 1'45.383
11 Troy Corser (BMW) 1'45.543
12 Règis Laconi (Ducati) 1'45.663
13 Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) 1'46.368
14 Ruben Xaus (BMW) 1'46.571
15 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1'46.593
16 Shinya Nakano (Aprilia) 41'46.928
17 Leon Haslam (Honda) 1'46.250
25 Jake Zemke (Honda) 1’47.751

Ben Spies, Yamaha World Superbike Team (1st, 1’44.073)
“It’s been really good here at Monza this weekend. The approach has been a bit different, we’ve kind of tried to sneak up on everyone and been working really hard on the race setup through the sessions. We’ve been working quietly away in the garage and I think the bike is going to be really good in the race. I really wanted to get this one for Yamaha on their home track so it was great to be able to take the Superpole for the team. It looks like it could be a bit of a dogfight tomorrow, hopefully we’ll have some guys up there to mix it up and shake up the points a little bit.”

Michel Fabrizio, Xerox Ducati (2nd, 1'44.2)
“It’s a pity that I was unable to take the pole because we’ve been up there in every session until now and making the Superpole was the final step. I hoped to be the fastest but once again Spies made a great lap. Anyway we know that we have the race pace and I hope to be up there fighting together with Spies for the win tomorrow. The important thing is to start from the front row; last year I was down on the fourth row and it was so hard to make up the positions to eventually finish fourth and fifth, so being already up front tomorrow obviously gives me a strong advantage this time around.”

Max Neukirchner, Alstare Suzuki (4th, 1'44.900)
"It's my first time on the front row and I'm happy for myself and the whole team. We improved the bike from yesterday by making some changes to the suspension and electronics and I think we have a good package and one that can give us a podium. Tomorrow we'll make a few adjustments in the warm-up and see if we can make the bike better, but I think we'll be OK. It will be important to get good starts tomorrow because the last thing I want is to get held up behind a group of riders going into the first chicane. But I hope I will not be in that situation and will do my best to make sure I get good starts."

Noriyuki Haga, Xerox Ducati (5th, 1'45.0)
“We have a great package and tomorrow, even if it’s going to be tough with five or six strong contenders, I intend to concentrate on taking the win. Today’s Superpole? Well I’m not so worried about not being on the front row to be honest. There are tracks, like Valencia, where it’s more important to start up front but Monza isn’t one of those tracks and the person who starts from first can easily be down in fifth by the end of the first lap. I’m feeling confident ahead of tomorrow’s races.”