2011 World Superbike Donington Superpole

Carlos Checa was running at the top of his game Saturday, the Althea Ducati rider snatching pole position at the Donington circuit. After setting a new personal best earlier in the day, the Spaniard continued to improve his time during Superpole and eventually secured a lap of 1'28.099. 

“What can I say? Everything is working so well here at Donington, we expected to go well and we did it," said Checa. "Our progress from yesterday to today was quite comfortable, basically today the tires were working well with these conditions and this cold. With one lap to get going it was not easy to get confidence but I was able to get a good enough time to get the pole and that’s important for tomorrow.”

BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Leon Haslam put in a solid display for second in the books only 0.266 seconds off the pace. Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes will start from the front row for the first time in awhile after earning third in the books ahead of Liberty Racing’s Jakub Smrz, who will round out the front row for Round 2 of the 2011 World Superbike Championship.

“I’m really happy now with this good starting slot for tomorrow’s races," said Sykes. "I think that’s the hardest part of the weekend because qualifying is always important. We had a little problem in SP2 and had to waste a qualifying tire but for SP3 we went out on a race tire. The second row was guaranteed but to squeeze onto the front row was something unexpected.”
 
PATA Aprilia’s Noriyuki Haga just missed a front row start. The Japanese rider posted the fifth-best time behind Smrz and was followed by 2010 WSB Champion, Max Biaggi. The defending champ’s teammate, Leon Camier, secured seventh on the timesheets after posting a lap that was more than half a second adrift of Checa. Meanwhile, Castrol Honda’s Jonathan Rea rounds out the second row in Sunday’s races after achieving a lap of 1'29.514.

"Today we had some difficulties due both to the low temperature and some choices on the bike set-up that weren't dead on,” said Biaggi. “In fact, in view of the races tomorrow I'll talk things over with my team. I think we'll backtrack, at least partly, to recover a bit of feeling. Unfortunately we only have the warm-up session to verify the feelings we've perceived today, so we'll have to really give it our all to be at our best racing conditions."
 
"We arrived at the last Superpole session with no qualifier left; I had to use them to get into the top eight,” said Camier. “In spite of that we'll be starting from the second row tomorrow after working well on our race pace. I think we'll be able to do well, both here and in the races to come, now that I feel well physically and I'm beginning to gain familiarity with the RSV4. A bit of extra motivation – riding at home – can’t but help me more." 

Yamaha’s Marco Melandri will start from Row 3 after he earned ninth in the charts, with BMW’s Troy Corser just 0.033 seconds behind the Italian. Following his crash in Friday’s qualifying session, Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio landed 11th in the order followed by Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz and Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty.

Liberty Racing’s Sylvain Guintoli was the final rider to secure a time under the 1’30 mark with the 14th-quickest lap. Supersonic Racing's Max Berger and Castrol Honda's Ruben Xaus took 15th and 16th respectively in the order. 

Meanwhile, Kawasaki’s Chris Vermeulen continued to take things slow since his return from knee surgery, and the Aussie will have to start Round 2 from the final row after coming in last on the timesheets.
 
2011 World Superbike Donington Superpole Results:
1. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1'28.099
2. Leon Haslam (BMW) 1'28.365
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'28.556
4. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1'28.561
5. Noriyuki Haga (Aprilia) 1'28.673
6. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'28.702
7. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 1'28.737
8. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1'29.514
9. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 1'28.803
10. Troy Corser (BMW) 1'28.836
11. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) 1'29.135
12. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1'29.422
13. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) 1'29.312
14. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) 1'29.879
15. Max Berger (Ducati) 1'30.002

World Supersport

Yamaha ParkinGo’s Luca Scassa continued his impeccable run of form in the 2011 World Supersport season by snagging pole position at Donington. The Italian earned a lap of 1'31.232 to beat out fellow teammate, Chaz Davies, by just 0.018 seconds at the end of the 45-minute session. Parkalgar Honda’s Sam Lowes rounded out the top-three times and will begin Sunday’s contest from the front row along with Kawasaki’s Broc Parkes, who was 0.413 seconds off the pace of Scassa.
 
Parkes’ Kawasaki teammate, David Salom, will begin the race from the second row after claiming fifth on the timesheets with a lap of 1'31.963. Trailing the Spaniard by 0.117 seconds was Step Racing’s Gino Rea, followed by Harms Benjan Racing Team’s Robbin Harms and Bogdanka PTR Honda’s James Ellsion in sixth through eighth, respectively. Ten Kate Honda’s Florian Marino just missed the second row by 0.057 seconds after grabbing ninth in the charts, and Massimo Roccoli rounded out the top-10 times more than a second off the pace of Scassa.
 
2011 World Supersport Donington Superpole Results:
1. Luca Scassa (Yamaha) 1'31.232
2. Chaz Davies (Yamaha) 1'31.250
3. Sam Lowes (Honda) 1'31.368
4. Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) 1'31.645
5. David Salom (Kawasaki) 1'31.963
6. Gino Rea (Honda) 1'32.080
7. Robbin Harms (Honda) 1'32.136
8. James Ellison (Honda) 1'32.153
9. Florian Marino (Honda) 1'32.210
10. Massimo Roccoli (Kawasaki) 1'32.338
11. Vladimir Ivanov (Honda) 1'32.694
12. Fabian Foret (Honda) 1'32.707
13. Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha) 1'32.917
14. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Kawasaki) 1'32.935
15. Alexander Lundh (Honda) 1'33.187