Checa regained his lap record at Miller during Superpole, setting the mark lower and lower with an eventual 1'47.081.
Max Biaggi's Aprilia took a turn in the gravel after a get-off in the afternoon practice session preceeding Superpole.
Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa claimed pole position for Monday’s SBK doubleheader at Miller Motorsports Park. The Spanish rider took the Superpole in dramatic fashion, breaking the standing track record not once, or twice, but three times – eventually taking pole with a time of 1’47.081. Joining Checa on the front row will be the fastest man in morning qualifying, Max Biaggi, as well as Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow and Pata B&G Ducati’s Jakub Smrz.
Superpole 1
Checa got down to business immediately, taking back the track record (broken by Biaggi in the morning) at 1’47.918 on his opening lap. Checa was the first rider to dip under 1’48 before Biaggi did the same on his second lap out, the Italian having pitched his Aprilia RSV4 during the previous afternoon practice session. Tom Sykes’ Superpole effort ended quickly, the Kawasaki rider suffering a highside in the opening laps.
Superpole 1 ended with Checa and Biaggi up front, with BMW’s Troy Corser third-fastest and Smrz in fourth. Eliminated riders included: Chris Vermeulen, Tom Sykes, Broc Parkes and Roger Hayden – all four more than two seconds off the pace of Checa.
Superpole 2
Checa again upped the ante right out of pit lane, lowering his lap record time one the first circuit of MMP, down to 1’47.707. Alstare Suzuki’s Leon Haslam and Ducati’s Smrz also slotted in the 1’47s at respective second and third.
On the flying lap of Superpole 2 Biaggi burned off a 1’47.528, for top honors and yet another lap record time. Checa was second followed by Haslam and Smrz. Leon Camier also made it into Superpole 2, along with Cal Crutchlow and Jonathan Rea. Noriyuki Haga snuck ahead of Ruben Xaus for the final ticket to Superpole 3, just nipping the BMW rider by 0.017.
Troy Corser running third in the first session crashed out early in Superpole 2, but hustled back to the garage on a pit bike. The Aussie made it in time to get back out on track with enough time to rip two laps, but it wasn’t enough with Corser one of the eight eliminated. Others that didn’t make the cut, along with the aforementioned Xaus include, Michel Fabrizio, Shane Byrne, Sylvain Guintoli, Luca Scassa, James Toseland and Max Neukirchner.
Jonathan Rea talking things over with the Ten Kate crew. The Honda man suffered a high-side in the final Superpole session but still walked away.
In the final Superpole session, once again Checa broke the lap record on his first lap out, with a 1’47.081.
The session was soon red-flagged, however, as both Rea and Smrz took nasty highsides at almost the exact same time. Rea’s crash in particular was remarkable, with the bike hopping up just in time to let the Irish rider slip underneath relatively unscathed enough to walk away under his own power.
The green flag waving after the carnage was cleaned up, each rider had two laps to make a bid for the Superpole. Biaggi made a play for for pole position in the final laps, but fell short of Checa. Crutchlow took third with Smrz holding onto the final front row position in spite of his early exit.
Haslam leads Row 2 on Monday, the points leader followed by Noriyuki Haga, who benefited from Superpole after lackluster showings in previous sessions had him consistently outside the top 10. The other Session 3 crasher, Rea, will grid up seventh, with Camier the slowest of the third session competitors.
World Superbike Miller Superpole Results:
1. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1'47.081
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'47.414
3. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1'47.648
4. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1'47.662
5. Leon Haslam (Suzuki) 1'48.006
6. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 1'48.035
7. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1'48.378
8. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 1'48.621
9. Ruben Xaus (BMW) 1'48.141
10. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1'48.154
11. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1'48.159
12. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) 1'48.162
13. Luca Scassa (Ducati) 1'48.274
14. James Toseland (Yamaha) 1'48.640
15. Troy Corser (BMW) 1'48.706
16. Max Neukirchner (Honda) 1'48.964
17. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) 1'49.635
18. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'50.135
19. Broc Parkes (Honda) 1'50.479
20. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 1'50.596
Supersport
Keenan Sofuoglu managed to sneak ahead of fellow Honda CBR600 rider Eugene Laverty for top position in the second timed qualifying session for Supersport. The Hannspree Ten Kate man bettered his Parkalgar Honda championship rival by a scant 0.082. Third-fastest in the session, Joan Lascorz continues to challenge the top two in the points, running a near identical time as his Kawasaki Motocard.com teammate Katsuaki Fujiwara.
ParkinGo BE1 Triumph’s David Salom rounded out the top five, followed by Chaz Davies. American Jason DiSalvo’s run of top-five showings ended in the session, with the former AMA competitor 10th-fastest. Fellow Americans Tyler Odom and Melissa Paris finished the session a respective 16th and 19th.
World Supersport Qualifying 2 Results:
1. Keenan Sofuoglu (Honda) 1’51.281
2. Eugene Laverty (Honda) 1’51.363
3. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1’51.461
4. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) 1’51.531
5. David Salom (Triumph) 1’51.656
6. Chaz Davies (Triumph) 1’51.797
7. Michele Pirro (Honda) 1’51.929
8. Fabien Foret (Kawasaki) 1’52.033
9. Robbin Harms (Honda) 1’52.248
10. Jason DiSalvo (Triumph) 1’52.287
16. Tyler Odom (Honda) 1’54.547
19. Melissa Paris (Yamaha) 1’58.411
