Sterilgarda Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow proved to be the fastest rider around the new and improved Silverstone circuit on Saturday's Superpole session with a time of 2'04.091.
Yamaha Sterilgarda’s Cal Crutchlow earned the right to start from pole position for Sunday's races after posting the fastest lap of 2'04.091 during Saturday’s Superpole session at Silverstone. The British rider put in some crushing lap times to secure his fifth pole of the '10 season and was only 0.7 seconds off the recent MotoGP pole time taken by Lorenzo at the same circuit.
"Coming back to the new Silverstone circuit is really good," said Crutchlow. "it is a little bit bumpy but not too bad. The lap time in Superpole was pretty good, I was absolutely desperate to do a 2.03, that was the target and the whole team were pumping me up to try it as it is the MotoGP pole time. Unfortunately I made a mistake coming out of the fast left-handers so it was not to be. I think there are a lot of fast people here this weekend so it should be close exciting racing tomorrow."
Honda Ten Kate’s Jonathan Rea and Xerox Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio took second and third respectively. Team PATA B&G Aprilia Racing’s Jakub Smrz put his RSV4 on the front row for the first time since his team changed brands.
Alstare Suzuki rider Leon Haslam rounded out the top-five times by coming in four-tenths behind Smrz, and will start the races from the second row. Meanwhile, championship leader Max Biaggi continued having difficulties at Silverstone and took the sixth-quickest time after running a lap of 2'05.682. His time was more than a second and a half adrift of Crutchlow’s, and he too will be starting from the second row.
"We still have some problems, especially in the section where the asphalt is the roughest," said Biaggi. "Lap performance is in fact conditioned by these difficulties, but tomorrow over the long distance the dynamics could change. We expect two hard races, hoping that the weather gives us a hand although anything is to be expected here in England. The home riders are doing very well – we are still lacking something in order to be quick. I hope that my team can put me into some better conditions tomorrow."
Aprilia's Max Biaggi took the sixth-best time during a very heated qualifying session.
BMW’s Troy Corser, who just returned from the injury he sustained at Brno, managed to qualify seventh despite crashing earlier in the day. His teammate Ruben Xaus, improved upon Friday’s practice results, qualifying in eighth. Rounding out the top-10 were Althea Ducati teammates Shane Byrne and Carlos Checa in ninth and tenth.
Aprilia's Leon Camier suffered a frustrating qualifying session that saw his best time deleted after letting his rear wheel go outside the regulation track. The 2009 British Superbike champion took 16th as a result, but it didn't change the fact that his original time was competitive.
"The deleted time was only the last problem," said Camier. "I was never able to close out a clean lap due to the traffic on the track. It's a shame when you think about what we demonstrated during all of the sessions. Honestly I didn't expect to start on the fourth row. Anyway, I like Silverstone, we've done a good job, so I'm looking ahead and thinking about the two races tomorrow. It will be hard work!"
2010 World Superbike Silverstone Superpole:
1. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 2'04.091
2. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 2'04.763
3. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 2'05.083
4. Jacob Smrz (Aprilia) 2'05.168
Honda's Jonathan Rea was the only rider other than Crutchlow to dip below the 2'05 mark at Silverstone.
5. Leon Haslam (Suzuki) 2'05.595
6. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 2'05.682
7. Troy Corser (BMW) 2'05.740
8. Ruben Xaus (BMW) 2'06.787
9. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 2'05.026
10. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 2'05.035
11. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) 2'05.066
12. James Toseland (Yamaha) 2'05.397
13. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 2'05.564
14. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 2'05.903
15. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 2'06.425
16. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 2'10.663
17. Josh Brookes (Honda) 2'06.271
18. Max Neukirchner (Honda) 2'07.041
19. Broc Parkes (Honda) 2'07.636
20. Luca Scassa (Ducati) 2'07.042
21. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 2'07.677
Supersport
Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty continued his impressive pace at the Silverstone circuit on Saturday by setting the fastest lap during Supersport qualifying. With a time of 2'09.426 Laverty was just 0.030 seconds faster than
Parkalgar Honda's Eugene Laverty continued running impressive laps at Silverstone and took the top time in Saturday's qualifying session.
Honda Ten Kate’s Kenan Sofuoglu. Taking third in the books was Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz, who was adrift of Sofuoglu’s pace by only five-thousandths of a second. It was a close qualifying session to say the least, with 0.035 seconds separating the top-three riders.
Roberto Tamburini took the fourth-quickest lap around the Silverstone circuit after posting a time that was just over a tenth off the leader’s pace. Trailing Tamburini was Harms Benjan Racing’s Robbin Harms in fifth, followed by Intermoto Czech Honda’s Gino Rea 0.100 seconds after. Japanese rider Katsuaki Fujiwara improved upon his practice qualifying time by more than one second to take seventh in Saturday’s qualifying run. Rounding out the top-10 lap times were Honda’s Massimo Roccoli, Triumph’s Chaz Davies and his teammate David Salom.
2010 World Supersport Silverstone Superpole:
1. Eugene Laverty (Honda) 2'09.426
Kenan Sofuoglu took second-place in the timesheets and was only 0.030 seconds adrift of Laverty's pace.
2. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) 2'09.456
3. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 2'09.461
4. Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha) 2'09.537
5. Robbin Harms (Honda) 2'09.816
6. Gino Rea (Honda) 2'09.916
7. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) 2'10.190
8. Massimo Roccoli (Honda) 2'10.256
9. Chaz Davies (Triumph) 2'10.258
10. David Salom (Triumph) 2'10.262
11. Matthieu Lagrive (Triumph) 2'10.389
12. Miguel Praia (Honda) 2'10.438
13. Fabian Foret (Kawasaki) 2'10.633
14. Alex Lowes (Yamaha) 2'11.053
15. James Westmoreland (Yamaha) 2'11.084
