Yamaha’s Ben Spies posted the fastest qualifying lap during the Magny-Cours Superpole, nabbing pole position for tomorrow's pair of races. Spies' championship rival, Noriyuki Haga, will start from fifth on the grid, directly behind the Texan on Row 2.
Yamaha's Ben Spies will make a wildcard entry at the Valencia MotoGP round held November 6th - 8th aboard the YZR-M1 test bike.
American Ben Spies' pole position start came via a breakneck lap of 1'37.709. Spies was the only rider to crack the 1’37 mark. Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Jonathan Rea finished Superpole the second fastest at 1'38.191. Rea's pace barely beat out Fabrizio for second. Max Biaggi, one of a handful of riders to crash on Friday, piloted his Aprilia to fourth on the starting grid.
Xerox Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga followed Biaggi. Haga, who is currently first in the points standings, will lead Row 2 and be looking to get around #19 off the start. Lined up next to Nitro Nori is Stiggy Honda rider Leon Haslam in sixth, DFX Corse’s Fonsi Nieto in seventh and BMW’s Troy Corser piloting the S1000RR to eighth.
Shane Byrne will start on Row 3 in ninth aboard his Ducati 1098R with fellow Ducati privateer Jakub Smrz at his side. Karl Muggeridge piloted his GSX-R1000 to 11th, the highest qualifying Suzuki. Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's Carlos Checa snatched the final spot on Row 3.
Muggeridge’s Suzuki teammate, Yukio Kagayama, finished in 13th with Spies’ teammate, Tom Sykes, right beside followed by BMW’s Ruben Xaus in 15th. Biaggi’s temporary teammate, 2009 British Superbike Champion Leon Camier, wound up in 16th.
Magny-Cours Saturday Superpole:
1. Spies B. Yamaha YZF R1 1'37.709
2. Rea J. Honda CBR1000RR 1'38.191
3. Fabrizio M. Ducati 1098R 1'38.196
4. Biaggi M. Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'38.235
5. Haga N. Ducati 1098R 1'38.365
6. Haslam L. Honda CBR1000RR 1'38.625
7. Nieto F. Ducati 1098R 1'38.670
BMW's Troy Corser (11), qualified on Row 2 for the start of the races at Magny-Cours.
8. Corser T. BMW S1000 RR 1'39.114
9. Byrne S. Ducati 1098R 1'38.831
10. Smrz J. Ducati 1098R 1'38.844
11. Muggeridge K. Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'38.851
12. Checa C. Honda CBR1000RR 1'38.924
13. Kagayama Y. Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'39.148
14. Sykes T. Yamaha YZF R1 1'39.361
15. Xaus R. BMW S1000 RR 1'39.444
16. Camier L. Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'39.703
World Superbike Superpole Rider Quotes:
Ben Spies - Yamaha World Superbike Team:
“The Superpole lap was a great lap, we’ve spent the weekend and the qualifying sessions working more on race tyres and fuel loads and really looking to make sure the bike is ready come Sunday. Superpole was the first time we really got down to banging out a lap and it was a good one. It’s good to see Johnny is up there again, it’s pretty much the same four guys as last time so it should be a good race. I don’t think anybody is going to be getting away and I think it will be settled in the last few laps. I’m pretty confident with the bike so I’m happy going into Sunday.”
Jonathan Rea – Hannspree Ten Kate Honda:
"I knew I had the pace today, but it’s not just me and Ben that are going to be battling it out tomorrow – it seems to be the same culprits up the front again. I wasn’t really sure I had set the pole time because I know just how fast these guys are. But the team is working really well together and the bike is really great. I feel very strong into the first turn and on to the back straight and our race pace is good, so we’ll see what happens in the races tomorrow. "
Michel Fabrizio - Xerox Ducati:
“I’m very happy to be able to start from the front row again. A few minutes before Superpole we unfortunately found a problem with my first bike, the bike I’d been riding, and very comfortable with, up until then. So I had to go out with the second bike for the Superpole. It wasn’t perfect and the qualifiers didn’t give me the feeling that I expected but I did enough to assure myself of a place on the front row. Tomorrow won’t be at all easy for Nori and myself as Spies and Rea both have a great race pace.”
“I prefer to start from fifth position than fourth because it might allow me to make a cleaner start and take a better line into the first corner. Over the weekend we’ve been working hard to sort the rear suspension in order to improve grip and we’re getting there, although we’ll make a few more changes tomorrow morning in the warm-up so as to be competitive to fight for the win. The first qualifier that I used in the Superpole didn’t help us much but the second was a bit better; I made a few small mistakes but the result isn’t too bad. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
Leon Haslam - Stiggy Racing Honda:
“This morning it felt pretty good. I had not been here for five years, and last time it was a cold Ducati day, so come here and put it straight into P2 felt pretty good. We tried a few things, a new tyre that didn’t work this afternoon, but all-in-all we went a little bit quicker, we are still up there, and still have a lot to come. I feel pretty confident.”
Troy Corser - BMW:
"Today went pretty well generally and I think we’ve got a pretty good race set-up and know which tires we’ll use for the race. When our bike gets more grip - like when we put on qualifying tires - it behaves a bit differently, so that’s always something to consider. The bike was spinning a bit this afternoon, so we’ll sit down and look at the telemetry and see if we can find out what the problem is and what to do about it. If I had been able to have a qualifier in final Superpole session, I think I might have got on the front row of the grid, but row two is OK and I normally make good starts, so I am not too bothered. Because of a red flag we lost fifteen minutes of the afternoon session and for us, that was valuable time lost. But we’re in pretty good shape and I’m hoping that it all works out well tomorrow. Brembo have worked very hard since last week and I now have no complaints at all about the brakes - in fact they are probably the best they’ve ever been."
Karl Muggeridge - Alstare Suzuki:
"We started today with different set-ups on the two bikes and I must say that I was a bit nervous about doing that because I knew how much work we had to get through today. In the morning we found one bike I preferred and then we set about trying to put the best bits of both bikes on one bike. Although the two bikes were different again in the afternoon, they were much more similar in feeling and set-up. At the end of the day, I feel that we have a good direction to go for tomorrow and I think that now my bike is more of a race bike than before. For sure, I could've gone faster today, but it was important to make progress and get ready for race day."
Carlos Checa – Hannspree Ten Kate Honda:
"It has been quite a frustrating day because I have not been able to find where we have any particular problem. But I could not put a very good lap in Superpole, even with the qualifying tyre. The bike is not really bad in any one area, but it’s not really good in any one area. We’ll just have to sit down again tonight and see if we can find anything obvious that we can work on for warm-up tomorrow."
"We used different set-ups to what we used in Imola last weekend and I definitely feel that now the rear end is getting better. Tomorrow we'll make some small steps and see if the improvements continue. It's early days still, but I feel that our new suspension is giving me more feedback and that means that I can give my team better information."
Tom Sykes - Yamaha World Superbike Team:
“It was a tough day today. We were making good progress in the qualifying session, and were finding improvements to the bike. Unfortunately in the free practice I had a very strange crash, I’m not sure why it happened at all. When we came out on the second bike the set up was completely different and so it was a struggle to get back on the pace. We don’t have an ideal start position from the grid but if we can get off the line well, we can get in there and fight for the front.”
Ruben Xaus - BMW:
"I am happy that I managed to qualify for Superpole and I’m happy that I also got into Superpole 2. On another day and with better physical condition, who knows what might have happened and I might have got on to the second row of the grid! This track has many right-handers and they, and the hairpins, are killing me. Being here for the first time on a four cylinder bike doesn’t help either, so I think I should be satisfied with what I did today. I need to find about half a second and then I think I’ll be able to have a good race for sure. I had a bit of a moment this afternoon when a gust of wind forced my hand off the handlebars and I had to go straight on at the final chicane. I would like to congratulate Troy for his good work and fast laps today and I would like to thank my team for the great job they did."
