Cal Crutchlow notched up his fifth pole position of the 2010 season with another incredible display during Superpole. The 24-year-old riding the Sterilgarda Yamaha R1 posted a lap time that was more MotoGP than WSB, in fact it would have been fast enough to qualify on the second row a few thousandths behind Andrea Dovisiozo onboard his Honda RCV211.

But despite dominating Superpole, in 2010 he has yet to win a single race, something that he intends to rectify tomorrow.

“When I came across the line and I saw that I’d done a 2’04.0 I would have been happy had I not made any mistakes,” said Crutchlow. “I ran wide though out of the complex and lost all my drive down the next straight. I don’t approach Superpole any differently to how I approach a race, but if there is somebody in front of me in the race I can’t do what I want to do and I get held up, and then after a few laps our tires are wrecked. On my Superpole lap I was sideways by the end so you can imagine what it’s going to be like over 18 laps tomorrow. I need to get a good start because it’s only a short run to the first corner and I need to be running at the front.”

While Crutchlow was the man to beat in Superpole, Brno race winner Jonathan Rea looks to be the man when it comes to race pace. The Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider only arrived back in the UK after finishing in third-place at last weekend’s Suzuka 8-hour race. Despite switching from a Superstock spec Fireblade on Bridgestone tires to his full blown WSB bike on Pirelli’s, Rea has been in impressive form from the start of the weekend.

The 23-year-old is also the name on nearly every team manager’s wish list to ride for them in 2011, and despite having a contract to stay with Ten Kate he remains a constant topic of conversation.

Leon Haslam will start the race from the second row of the grid in fifth position, but as he has proved throughout the 2010 season he will be a contender in tomorrow’s races. Alongside him on the second row is championship rival Max Biaggi in eighth- place – a man Haslam simply has to beat to keep any realistic chances of winning the WSB title.

BMW’s Troy Corser was expected to shine at the fast and flowing Silverstone track, but after a difficult Superpole he had to settle for seventh on the grid. But given his blistering starts onboard the S1000RR he has every chance of being in the lead going into Turn 1.

“It was just unfortunate that my qualifying tire didn’t work in Superpole 3,” said Corser. “Otherwise I think I could’ve got on the front row of the grid for sure. I used a qualifying tire in Superpole 2 and it worked OK, though to be true I didn’t feel a big difference between the race tires and the qualifiers this afternoon. I used my last qualifier in Superpole 3, but it gave no grip and was spinning straightaway. I ran off the track and almost crashed! I went back to the pits, put on some race rubber and immediately went faster! Generally, I am pretty happy with the bike, though we do need to fix the throttle connection a bit because I feel I’m getting a bit of a delay, instead of it just working as quickly as normal. If I get my normal good starts, I think I can be in the first four going into Turn 1 and that’s pretty crucial because otherwise the front group can get away. Turn 1 is quite bumpy going into and on the exit, so it’s going to be pretty interesting for the fans there! There are quite a few passing places around here, but you’ve got to have the tire to make it work. Hopefully, all will be OK tomorrow and I can challenge for the podium in both races.”

Away from the action on track, the FIM confirmed that there would be a new, higher minimum weight limit introduced in 2011 and also amended the ruling concerning cam drive. The ruling is aimed at Aprilia, who introduced a gear driven cam motor at the Miller Motorsports park race. The new rules will see it outlawed in 2011, meaning they will have to revert back to the chain driven cam motor they used throughout 2009 and the early part of 2010.