Yamaha Sterilgarda’s Cal Crutchlow secured the Superpole victory at Brno while taking a new track best on Saturday. In what was his fourth pre-race “win” of the ‘10 season, Crutchlow set a circuit-best of 1'58.018 ahead of
Aprilia’s Max Biaggi and
Honda Ten Kate’s Jonathan Rea.
Yamaha Sterilgarda’s Cal Crutchlow took the Superpole victory at Brno in front of Max Biaggi and Jonathan Rea.
"It's great to be on pole today," Crutchlow said. "But I'd rather give away the pole for a race win, but you've got to take them when you can. I really enjoyed the Superpole, it was a good session for us, and we were strong through it all. We're working well and I'm pleased with that, but Max is definitely the one to beat tomorrow. All credit to the guys who are on the front row. I can see it being a big battle tomorrow; I don't see one guy heading off but at least ten at the start and maybe five at the end."
Championship leader Biaggi took a comfortable second to secure a front row start in Sunday’s race.
"I'm happy with the starting position," said Biaggi. "The front row is always an encouraging result in spite of the fact that the high temperatures hurt us a little bit coming out of the medium-slow turns. With the hard work we did yesterday and this morning we were able to obtain good balance. The bike has consistently improved in spite of some small problems we had in the first practice on Friday. Tomorrow should be fun, there are quite a few of us in the game and we'll need to have eyes in the back of our helmets!"
Biaggi was followed by Rea, who recorded a time of 1'59.094 on his best lap out for third-place.
“It is hot out there, but there’s a lot of breeze so it’s not too bad," said Rea. "I actually didn’t really know where to go after Superpole because I haven’t been in the top 3 for some time. I’d just like to thank all of my team, our package isn’t perfect but what we do have in the Ten Kate garage is a really hard work ethic and we’re trying."
BMW Motorrad’s Ruben Xaus took an impressive fourth-place in the timesheets to grab the last spot on the front row. This makes it four different manufacturers in a front row start for Sunday’s race.
Finishing out the top-five times was Alstare
Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli in fifth with a time of 1'59.179, which was more than a second adrift of Crutchlow’s pace. Following Guintoli were Supersonic
Ducati’s Luca Scassa in sixth, Xerox Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio in seventh and Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa in eighth. Taking ninth during qualifying at Brno was DFX Corse Ducati rider Lorenzo Lanzi.
Honda Ten Kate's Jonathan Rea took third in qualifying on Saturday at Brno and will start from the front row.
Yamaha Sterilgarda’s James Toseland continued to struggle on Saturday with a chest infection and lack of grip which has left the Yamaha rider with sub-par results at the Brno round so far.
"I really struggled with the qualifier tires today," Toseland said. "I made it through the first session with no problems with a race tire and was confident that we could get through the second with the qualifier. Unfortunately I couldn't find the grip I was expecting. Our race pace is good, so it's going to be important for me to have a good start to get with the front pack when they break."
Also continuing to underperform is championship contender Leon Haslam, who took 14th in qualifying and is still clearly having difficulties with braking and grip from his Suzuki machine. Just one spot behind Haslam is Ducati Xerox’s Noriyuki Haga in 15th. After crashing twice in two Superpole sessions, the Japanese rider will be starting from the fourth row in Sunday’s competition.
After suffering a tremendous highside crash in Friday's qualifying practice session, BMW's Troy Corser will not be racing Sunday. The 38-year-old sustained bruising all over his body, and after discussions with the team doctor it was decided that he shouldn't compete.
"Unfortunately I cannot race this weekend," said Corser. "I feel quite exhausted right now, and I have a pain in my chest. It was a huge impact, and I am happy I was not hurt badly. I remember the crash pretty well: I somehow lost the rear, and then I highsided. I would have loved to race in Brno, but we all agree I need a couple of days to rest now to be able to start in Silverstone."
2010 World Superbike Brno Superpole:
1. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1'58.018
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'58.743
Championship leader Max Biaggi was more than half a second adrift of Crutchlow's pace and took second during qualifying at Brno.
3. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1'59.094
4. Rubin Xaus (BMW) 1'59.135
5. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) 1'59.179
6. Lucca Scassa (Ducati) 1'59.393
7. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1'59.451
8. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1'59.571
9. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 1'59.699
10. James Toseland (Yamaha) 1'59.699
11. Max Neukirchner (Honda) 1'59.829
12. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'59.830
13. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 1'59.841
14. Leon Haslam (Suzuki) 1'59.995
15. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 2'00.258
16. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 2'00.564
17. Jacob Smrz (Aprilia) 2'00.341
18. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) 2'01.167
19. Matteo Baiocco (Kawasaki) 2'01.523
20. Troy Corser (BMW) 2'00.508
21. Broc Parkes (Honda) 2'01.463
22. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 2'01.826
Supersport
Kawasaki Motocard.com’s Joan Lascorz took the superpole victory in supersport for the second time this season with his last lap during qualifying at Brno. The Spanish rider stole the victory away from his teammate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, who was forced to settle for second in the timesheets with a lap of 2'02.817 that was only 17 hundredths of a second off Lascorz’s pace.
Although he crashed earlier in the day, Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty took third in the timesheets with a time of 2'03.082. Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni’s Fabian Foret made it an even better qualifying session for Kawasaki when he took the fourth-quickest time of the day to make it the third Kawasaki rider on the front row. Rounding out the top-six times were Honda Ten-Kate’s Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro in fifth and sixth, respectively.
2010 World Supersport Brno Superpole:
1. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 2'02.800
2. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) 2'02.817
3. Eugene Laverty (Honda) 2'03.082
4. Fabian Foret (Kawasaki) 2'03.193
Parkalgar Honda's Eugene Laverty took third in qualifying and will be surrounded by Kawasakis on the front row in Sunday's Supersport competition.
5. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) 2'03.397
6. Michele Pirro (Honda) 2'03.421
7. Gino Rea (Honda) 2'03.450
8. Chaz Davies (Triumph) 2'03.641
9. Robbin Harms (Honda) 2'03.757
10. Miguel Praia (Honda) 2'03.959
11. David Salom (Triumph) 2'04.157
12. Matthieu Lagrive (Triumph) 2'04.445
13. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Triumph) 2'04.549
14. Massimo Roccoli (Honda) 2'04.849
15. Alexander Lundh (Honda) 2'05.504
16. Bastien Chesaux (Honda) 2'05.673
17. Alessio Palumbo (Kawasaki) 2'05.770
18. Danilo dell' Omo (Honda) 2'06.09
19. Tomas Holubec (Honda) 2'06.306
20. Daniel Bukowski (Honda) 2'06.336
21. Jaroslav Cerny (Yamaha) 2'06.620
22. Bostjan Skubic (Yamaha) 2'09.288
23. Eduard Blokhin (Yamaha) 2'10.220
24. Imre Toth (Honda) 2'10.248
