Tom Sykes took his first superpole of the 2010 season by 0.051 seconds ahead of Jacob Smrz.
In an amazing performance
Kawasaki Racing Team’s
Tom Sykes captured his first superpole victory of the 2010 season at the Imola circuit in Italy. It was a long overdue superpole for the team, with Kawasaki’s last superpole being taken nearly three years ago. Sykes put in his best lap on the wet circuit of 2'07.341 to edge ahead of Pata B&G
Aprilia’s Jacob Smrz by just 0.051 seconds. Championship contender Leon Haslam third spot on the front row after posting a lap just under a second off the leader’s pace.
Taking fourth on the timesheets and occupying the final spot on the front row was Supersonic Racing Team’s Luca Scassa, who was more than a second off the pace of Sykes. DFX Course rider Lorenzo Lanzi secured one of his best qualifying runs to date in fifth with his time of 2'08.490, while
BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Troy Corser landed the sixth-fastest time of the day more than two-and-a-half seconds off the pace.
Championship leader
Max Biaggi improved his time from Friday to take seventh in Saturday’s superpole session. The Aprilia rider will start from the second row alongside BMW’s Ruben Xaus, who qualified in eighth with his lap of 2'10.482.
"A complicated day,” said Biaggi. “But in the end I found that I was quick enough to earn the second row, and probably risking a bit more I could have done even better. These were undoubtedly the wildest test sessions of the season due to the varying weather conditions, so I'd say that we did the right thing today. The wet asphalt is always an unknown factor, but especially here it is absolute torture. The two races tomorrow won't be easy for us.”
Aprilia's Max Biaggi took seventh during the wet session and will start from the second row on Sunday.
The top-10 times of the session were rounded out by Althea Racing’s Carlos Checa and Xerox
Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio in ninth and 10th, respectively. Having a difficult day were Honda Ten Kate’s Jonathan Rea and Ducati’s Noriyuki Haga. The two were more than four seconds adrift of Sykes’ time and will have to begin Sunday’s races from the fourth row.
Another rider who suffered in the wet conditions at Imola was
Yamaha Sterilgarda’s James Toseland. After struggling to find speed on the slick track surface, Toseland fell outside the top-15 and will have to start from the fifth row.
"It's fair to say that rain has spoiled play today here at Imola, not just for me but for Cal also, so as a team we are very disappointed,” Toseland said. “We've had good top speed all weekend and good race pace and I was really looking forward to Superpole to see what we could do. I'm starting from the fifth row of the grid tomorrow but there have been other unlucky guys out there as well."
2010 World Superbike Imola Superpole Results:
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 2'07.341
2. Jacob Smrz (Aprilia) 2'07.392
Leon Haslam will start from the front row after putting in the third-fastest lap in Saturday's superpole session.
3. Leon Haslam (Suzuki) 2'08.273
4. Luca Scassa (Ducati) 2'08.427
5. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 2'08.490
6. Troy Corser (BMW) 2'09.842
7. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 2'09.924
8. Ruben Xaus (BMW) 2'10.482
9. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 2'11.117
10. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 2'11.130
11. Max Neukirchner (Honda) 2'11.150
12. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 2'11.271
13. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 2'11.395
14. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 2'11.558
15. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 2'11.601
16. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) 2'11.706
17. James Toseland (Yamaha) 2'13.823
18. Roger Hayden (Kawasaki) 2'15.026
Supersport
In World Supersport, rain prevented riders from improving their times, and the field was forced to revert back to Friday’s times set during the first qualifying session. Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu will start from first on the grid after he posted his best time of 1'52.397. Starting alongside the championship leader will be Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene
Bad weather prevented the Supersport class from improving their times, and Kenan Sofuoglu will be first on the grid after taking the fastest lap in Friday's qualifying session.
Laverty, who took second in Friday’s session but was 0.882 seconds adrift of Sofuoglu’s pace.
2010 World Supersport Imola Qualifying Results:
1. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) 1'52.397
2. Eugene Laverty (Honda) 1'53.279
3. Michelle Pirro (Honda) 1'53.333
4. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) 1'53.541
5. Chaz Davies (Triumph) 1'53.723
6. Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) 1'53.798
7. Massimo Roccoli (Honda) 1'53.867
8. Mark Aithchison (Honda) 1'53.981
9. Gino Rea (Honda) 1'54.134
10. David Salom (Triumph) 1'54.276
