Jakub Smrz took a podium in Assen and shows that he has what it takes to lead at the Misano round of World Superbike races.
The Misano World Circuit in San Marino, Italy returned to a dry form for the World Superbike Superpole on Saturday as Jakub Smrz, the Czech rider with no vowels to slow him down, powered his privateer
Ducati 1098 to a pole-setting time of 1’35.435. Following two lackluster 13th place finishes during the mixed-weather qualifying sessions leading-up to Superpole, the 26-year-old Guandalini Ducati rider surprised everyone when he laid down a new circuit best lap and broke the seven straight Superpole winning streak of Ben Spies by almost two-tenths of a second.
"I am really pleased with my first-ever Superpole, it's a great feeling to be there," remarked Smrz jubilantly. "But not just my Superpole time was good, I also have a good race pace as well, and I hope to be able to fight against the other guys up at the front and get a podium in the races. Last year I went well at Misano, but I hope for a better result this time around."
Jonathan “Jonny” Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) continued his good form for the weekend to land a well-deserved second with 1’35.609. The rider from Northern Ireland recorded the fastest time during the free session earlier in the day and took fourth in both qualifying rounds leading up to Superpole. Runner-up to the 2008 Supersport World Championship and 2007
British Superbike Championship, Rea has proven to be Honda’s top rider of late, scoring podiums in each of the last two rounds.
A recent string of successes has pushed Honda rider Jonathan Rea into fourth in the World Superbike point standings.
Rea thanked his crew for much of the success, "We got through a fair amount of hardware at Magny-Cours testing and got a good base setting for this weekend. And finally in the last few sessions and qualifying we've been doing some good times, so hopefully it'll all come good in the race tomorrow."
Yamaha’s
Ben Spies (1’35.631) and
Ducati’s
Michel Fabrizio (1’35.811) were the only other riders to duck under the 1 minute and 35 second mark. The championship challengers, who were both consistently fast throughout the day despite having to adjust to wet and dry track conditions, will join each other on the front row of the grid on Sunday.
“It was a good session for us today we just weren’t fast enough at the end," stated the typically straightforward Spies. "I never managed to put a perfect lap in but even if I had I think it would have been right there with Smrz so it’s not like we were going to blow anything out of the water. Our race pace is good and I’m really happy with that. You can’t win them all, I’m really happy to be on the front row, we’re in a good position for turn one so I’m going to try and get a good start and have a great race.”
Noriyuki Haga: “I’m still fairly happy with the way things are going. Tomorrow it’s not supposed to rain, at least we hope not! In the morning we want to make some small changes that will hopefully improve the feeling I have with the front of the bike and then we’ll be ready to race. For me it is not so important that I’m not on the front row, but having said that tomorrow I plan to start strong and try to stay there out front.”
Fabrizio also explained his performance and expectaions for Sunday, “It’s a shame that I made an error in the first split, losing a few tenths, because otherwise it would have been a much better time, putting me in second or third I think. Anyway I must say well done to Smrz who put together an extremely fast lap and I am very happy to have made it on to the front row. We can’t predict what the weather will be like tomorrow but we’ve tried both the race tires that we have available and I’m happy with both of them so we’re feeling confident that we’ll be competitive regardless of the conditions. I have a feeling that tomorrow I’ll be fighting against Ben because today I’ve seen that we have more or less the same pace.”
Heading-up the second row of tomorrow's grid will be another Ducati privateer, the 2008 British Superbike champion Shane Bryne. 2009 World Superbike Championship points leader
Noriyuki Haga follows in sixth, four-tenths of a second off his teammate Fabrizio’s time, yet still well situated for the start of Sunday’s races. Backing Rea from the second row will be two other
Honda riders with '09 podiums to their names,
Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari.
Max Biaggi will be the lead rider for the
Aprilia team in eighth, with Nakano not far behind in 12th.
BMW rider Troy Corser qualified for Superpole 2 and was on his way to getting BMW Motorsport Motorrad's best Superpole of the season, but a clutch problem unfortunately ruined his chance for the last qualifying round.
Three-time AMA champion
Jamie Hacking will have his work cut out for him when he starts 20th on the grid as the replacement rider for
Kawasaki's
Makato Tamada. John Hopkins (Stiggy Racing Honda) did not race on Saturday and will sit out Sunday due to swelling in his hip injury, which he suffered while in Assen.
Fonsi Nieto: "After a long time off the bike, I am getting more and more comfortable every time I go out and feel that I am also improving my understanding of it. I am happy to be 11th, but not happy because I lost two or three-tenths-of-a-second in the last split and maybe I could've qualified on the second row. I am also happy to be 11th at this stage because the championship is much more competitive than last year. All in all, I don't think I'm doing so badly. The bike has good balance and I am hoping for dry conditions tomorrow as this place is very slippery in the wet."
1. Jakub Smrz (
Ducati 1098R) - 1'35.435
2. Jonathan Rea (
Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'35.609
3. Ben Spies (
Yamaha YZF-R1) - 1'35.631
4. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati 1098R) - 1'35.811
5. Shane Byrne (Ducati 1098R) - 1'36.224
6. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati 1098R) - 1'36.277
7. Carlos Checa (Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'36.537
8. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'36.884
9. Max Biaggi (
Aprilia RSV4 Factory) - 1'36.439
10. Leon Haslam (Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'36.510
11. Fonsi Nieto (
Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9) - 1'36.510
12. Shinya Nakano (Aprilia RSV4 Factory) - 1'36.682
13. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9) - 1'36.916
14. Tom Sykes (Yamaha YZF R1) - 1'36.978
15. Troy Corser (
BMW S1000RR) - 1'36.994
16. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati 1098R) - 1'37.209
17. Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati 1098R) - 1'37.266
18. Ruben Xaus (BMW S1000RR) - 1'37.300
19. Broc Parkes (
Kawasaki ZX-10R) - 1'37.361
20. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki ZX-10R) - 1'38.558
21. David Salom (Kawasaki ZX-10R) - 1'38.522
22. Matthieu Lagrive (Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'38.671
23. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki ZX-10R) - 1'38.755
24. Matteo Baiocco (Kawasaki ZX-10R) - 1'38.827
25. David Checa (Yamaha YZF R1) - 1'38.828
26. John Hopkins (Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'38.856
27. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Honda CBR1000RR) - 1'39.067
28. Alex Polita (Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9) - 1'39.308
29. Roland Resch (Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9) - 1'40.489
