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Edition

Australia
Qualifying report

Aragon WSBK: Sykes on pole, Yamahas complete front row

Kawasaki's Tom Sykes took pole position for the upcoming World Superbike races at Aragon, while factory Yamaha riders Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes made up the front row.

Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing Team

Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing Team

Chaz Davies, Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Team
Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing Team
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team
Michael van der Mark, Honda WSBK Team
Sylvain Guintoli, Pata Yamaha

None of the trio were out front early on, as the first set of flying laps in Superpole 2 produced an unexpected leader in Althea BMW's Jordi Torres, who had fought his way up through Superpole 1 a few minutes earlier.

And while the Spaniard would soon be surpassed by the Ducati of Chaz Davies, Torres remained second at the halfway point, just a tenth off provisional pole.

The status quo out front remained until the final laps but, just as Honda's Michael van der Mark fell after sliding on the kerbs with two minutes remaining, the riders started to improve en masse.

With mere seconds left until the chequered flag, Sylvain Guintoli - another rider to advance from SP1 - went to the top of the timing screens, giving Yamaha faint hope of an early pole in its return campaign.

However, that hope was dashed by the Kawasaki of Tom Sykes, who went two tenths clear at the chequered, taking his second pole of the season and setting the new Aragon lap record in WSBK.

Guintoli did get to settle for second, with Lowes completing a superb qualifying effort for Yamaha in third.

Davies ended up fourth, with he and teammate Davide Giugliano split by championship leader Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) on row two.

MV Agusta's Leon Camier was seventh ahead of Torres and Xavi Fores (Barni Ducati), with Nicky Hayden pipping his Honda teammate van der Mark to 10th at the chequered flag and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) making up the order in SP2.

Qualifying results

Pos. Rider Bike SP1 SP2
1 Tom Sykes Kawasaki   1:49.374
2 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha 1:50.482 1:49.583
3 Alex Lowes Yamaha   1:49.708
4 Chaz Davies Ducati   1:49.909
5 Jonathan Rea Kawasaki   1:50.003
6 Davide Giugliano Ducati   1:50.316
7 Leon Camier MV Agusta   1:50.360
8 Jordi Torres BMW 1:50.352 1:50.390
9 Javier Fores Ducati   1:50.538
10 Nicky Hayden Honda   1:50.551
11 Michael van der Mark Honda   1:50.744
12 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia   1:50.958
13 Markus Reiterberger BMW 1:50.938  
14 Roman Ramos Kawasaki 1:51.560  
15 Karel Abraham BMW 1:52.052  
16 Alex de Angelis Aprilia 1:52.173  
17 Matteo Baiocco Ducati 1:52.246  
18 Joshua Brookes BMW 1:52.443  
19 Sylvain Barrier Kawasaki 1:53.169  
20 Mathieu Lussiana BMW 1:54.042  
21 Dominic Schmitter Kawasaki 1:54.569  
22 Saeed Al Sulaiti Kawasaki 1:54.719  
23 Peter Sebestyen Yamaha 1:55.444  
24 Joshua Hook Kawasaki 1:56.023  
25 Imre Toth Yamaha 1:57.217  

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Edition

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