Noriyuki Haga is well-positioned to hold his slim points lead by securing the pole position at Nurburgring, though Ben Spies is right behind Nitro Nori in Row 2.
Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga will start tomorrow’s pair of World Superbike races from pole position after winning the Nurburgring Superpole. Nitro Nori’s front starting position is one row ahead of his sole championship rival,
Yamaha’s Ben Spies, who qualified fifth-fastest.
Joining Haga on Row 1 are Honda satellite riders Jonathan Rea (HannSpree Ten Kate Honda) and Leo Haslam (Stiggy Honda), as well as Haga’s Xerox
Ducati teammate, Michel Fabrizio. The pole position start may only be one row ahead of Spies, but Haga needs every advantage as his American rival continues to whittle down a one-time sizable points lead to a mere seven.
Spies headlines Row 2 in fifth, aiming his
Yamaha R1 right behind Haga and could guarantee a points lead with a pair of wins on Sunday. The young Texan, who just inked a two-year extension with Yamaha (one more in WSB and then MotoGP in 2011) is followed by BMW S1000RR ace Troy Corser and Aprilia RSV4 pilot Max Biaggi. Hannspree Ten Kate rider Carlos Checa was eighth-fastest, the MotoGP veteran riding the
CBR1000RR.
Yamaha’s second factory rider, Tom Sykes will start the Row 3 charge on Sunday. The British rider is followed by Ducati privateers Shane “Shakey” Byrne (Sterilgarda) and Fonsi Nieto (DFX). Kawasaki’s Makoto Tamada was 12th-fastest.
The remaining Superpole competitors and Row 4 starters are Suzuki’s Yukio Kagayama, Ducati’s Jakub Smrz, Kawasaki’s Broc Parkes and Honda’s
World Superbike Nurburgring Superpole Results
Spies recently inked a two-year extension with Yamaha, with plans to race 2011 in MotoGP.
1. Noriyuki Haga (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'55.489
2. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'55.749
3. Leo Haslam (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'55.776
4. Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'55.927
5. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'55.938
6. Troy Corser (AUS) BMW S1000RR 1'56.296
7. Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'56.440
8. Carlos Checa (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'56.699
9. Tom Sykes (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'56.406
10. Shane Byrne (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'56.663
11. Fonsi Nieto (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'56.670
12. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'56.683
13. Yukio Kagayama (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'56.901
14. Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'57.091
15. Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'57.098
16. Matthieu Lagrive (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'57.293
Rider Quotes:
Noriyuki Haga – Xerox Ducati – 1st:
“You can see that I’m back in shape after the holidays and I’m very happy to have taken the pole today. It’s my first pole position with Ducati and it comes just at the right time, as the championship reaches the final stages. I’ve been feeling comfortable on the bike all weekend and this bodes well for tomorrow. I like the track a lot and, having gone well here last year, I’m looking forward to racing.”
Jonathan Rea – HannSpree Honda – 2nd:
“I put a pretty good lap in at the start and thought it was enough so I rolled off a bit, but all credit to Nori, that was a really good lap. The bike’s working really well here, I’m glad the guys didn’t fall asleep on holiday during the summer break! We’ve come back with some development parts on the bike. I really love this circuit, but I can sleep solid tonight and look forward to things tomorrow.”
Leon Haslam – Stiggy Honda – 3rd:
“We’ve had a tough mid-season and the last race at Brno wasn’t one of the best so to bounce back after the break with a front row start – I’ve only had one this year – is really good. I’ve really got to grips with this new circuit, which I’ve never been to, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Michel Fabrizio – Xerox Ducati – 4th:
“I am fairly happy with the result; it’s just a shame I made a small mistake on the last corner because I think if I had nailed that I could have finished second or third. Anyway the important thing is that I’m starting from the front row and I am more than ready to fight for the win tomorrow. I predict a close battle between us on the Ducatis and the two Hondas.”
Ben Spies - Yamaha - 5th:
“I didn’t do us any favours by falling in the second practice and missing out on valuable track time, so we’re still looking for the right set up. We seem to be struggling a bit for grip on the bumpy sections and that’s what we’re trying to deal with. Combine that with the rain when we arrived and the lost time in free practice means we’ve only really had an hour of dry time here to find our set up. We’ve got the warm up and two races to figure it out so we’re on it.”
Troy Corser – BMW - 6th:
“Well that was pretty close - in more ways than one! I’m sure that I brushed Nori’s bike or leathers in the process and he must have felt my presence because we were that close! Any closer and we both might’ve gone down. I guess he didn’t realize I was on a hot lap and so close because I don’t think he would done his action deliberately. Anyway, sixth is not so bad, especially as I am happy with my bike. I think the team have made a step forward since Brno and I was pretty happy with the bike there! The bike feels much more consistent now and it’s easier to ride.
“My qualifying tire in Superpole 2 worked really well and we used the same type in Superpole 3, but it just didn’t feel as good. After the long summer break, I have been looking forward to riding my bike again and the progress the team keep making gives me a lot of optimism for the future. Let’s see what happens in tomorrow’s two races first.”
Makoto Tamada – Kawasaki – 12th:
“In the last race the machine was much better than the previous rounds and here we have continued to get a good feeling with it. In braking it is very strong and in the faster corners it is good, but in the slower corners we could improve a bit more. The races will be difficult but it is always tough in this class. We have made a tyre choice for this track and starting from row three is not so bad.”
Yukio Kagayama – Alstare Suzuki - 13th:
"As it was dry this morning, we began with the dry set-up from our last race in Brno, but it didn't work as well as we wanted so we had to start making changes. In the afternoon untimed session we tried some different spring settings to improve the bike, but maybe our direction was not so good because I could not go any faster.
"Superpole today was like the rest of the season and although we have tried many different ideas and changed many things this year I don't think we have solved the problem. It is frustrating for sure, but tomorrow is race day and my job is to race as hard as I can and do my best. This I will do, as usual."
Broc Parkes – Kawasaki – 15th:
“It wasn’t too bad but unfortunately I dropped the bike on the exit of the first corner in the first Superpole session. It is so slow there that it pretty much just fell over. I went back into the box and when we went back out on a qualifying tire I didn’t quite have the confidence I wanted. It is OK, but I would have liked to be on the third row. We are still in there and got in the top 16 of Superpole again. Our race set-up is good, we ran almost the whole final untimed session on the same tire and got 22 laps out of it. Now we have to look towards the race and get a few more things sorted for tomorrow.”
