World Superbike
Imola: Series Saturday report
Sykes masters the conditions to take Superpole win for Kawasaki Kawasaki took its first Superpole win since 2007 when Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) lapped the damp Imola circuit in 2'07.341, holding off a late charge from Pata B&G Aprilia ...
Edited: Sep 26, 2010, 3:37 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Sykes masters the conditions to take Superpole win for Kawasaki
Kawasaki took its first Superpole win since 2007 when Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) lapped the damp Imola circuit in 2'07.341, holding off a late charge from Pata B&G Aprilia rider Jakub Smrz. Sykes is now the seventh rider to have earned a pole position in 2010, in 12 rounds so far. Championship challenger Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) went third and the last place on the front row will go to local regular, Luca Scassa (Supersonic Ducati). This is Scassa's first front row in WSBK racing.
The second row for Sunday's races will be headed up by Lorenzo Lanzi (DFX Corse Ducati), with the smooth riding-style of Troy Corser taking him to sixth fastest for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) was seventh fastest and starts the races from the second row, as he tries to win the championship tomorrow. Eighth was the second official BMW, ridden by a former race winner here, Ruben Xaus.
In damp conditions Superpole two was treacherous and Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) fell from his big vee-twin exiting a chicane, as did many other riders. Fastest going into Superpole, Carlos was therefore ninth fastest overall, ahead of the factory Ducati Xerox machine of Michel Fabrizio.
The third row was rounded out by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Max Neukirchner and Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda). Crutchlow was on track to enter Superpole three, but ran off track without falling at the first Rivazza corner.
Tom Sykes: "Hopefully it's my first pole of many! You know it's fantastic that Kawasaki has managed to get a pole position. Coming into the Superpole we struggled a little bit because it was the first time in the wet, but the team really worked hard through the three sessions and when it counted at the end we had the best package to work with, so hopefully I can repay them tomorrow in the races!"
Jakub Smrz: "It was a really nice result for me, because it's my first time on the Aprilia in the wet. It was very difficult, I'm still struggling a bit with the set-up of the new bike, but today was really good and really close. I can't change the conditions anyway, so everybody will be in the same boat."
Leon Haslam: "It was quite sketchy out there, the first lap with the new tyre wasn't too bad but there were a lot of slippery crashes. It's the first time I've been in a wet weather situation with the Suzuki so to have put it on the front row, I'm quite pleased with that. I've been third in the dry and third in the wet here so it gives me a good chance of getting onto the podium tomorrow. I just want to say thanks to the Alstare boys, they've done wonders all year, I hope to repay them with a win."
World Supersport
The 1'52.397 lap he set on the first day was enough to give Kenan Sofuoglu (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) pole at Imola, as all the riders' times remained as they were on Friday, due to the damp track conditions they experienced today. This keeps Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) second, Michele Pirro (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) third and Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki Motocard.com) fourth quickest. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO BE1 Triumph) remains fifth, and Fujiwara's team-mate Broc Parkes is sixth. Massimo Roccoli (Intermoto Czech Honda) and Mark Aitchison (Kuja Racing Honda) are the final two front row starters.
Superstock 1000
As the Imola track surface slowly dried out, the top Superstock riders improved their pace through the final qualifying session, but none could get close to their previous best. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Junior Superstock) is therefore the pole man for Sunday's races, thanks to his track best lap, posted on Friday, of 1'51.528. He was also fastest in today's session and tomorrow he will start one place up on Lorenzo Zanetti (SS Lazio Motorsport Ducati). Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Race Junior Honda Team), Andrea Antonelli (Team Lorini Honda) and Sylvain Barrier (Garnier Junior Team BMW) complete the top five grid places.
Superstock 600 - Race
Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Racing Yamaha) finished sixth today and that was enough to make him the new champion, despite a chaotic last corner double crash that saw Florian Marino (Ten Kate Race Junior Honda) win the race, but lose the championship fight. Guarnoni now has 187 points, Marino 159. Leandro Denis Mercado (BWG Racing Kawasaki) was on course for the race win but fell on the final chicane. Fabio Massei (Moto Club Piellemoto Yamaha) was second, Giuliano Gregorini (Elle2Promotion Yamaha) third.
-source: fim worldsuperbike
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Series Quarto di Miglio news 2010-09-25
Next article Imola: Suzuki Alstare Saturday report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Cal Crutchlow
Cal Crutchlow heaps praise on Pedrosa-like Ai Ogura in MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP
San Marino GP
Cal Crutchlow heaps praise on Pedrosa-like Ai Ogura in MotoGP
Cal Crutchlow to ride through shoulder injury in “challenging” Balaton Park weekend
MotoGP
MotoGP
Hungarian GP
Cal Crutchlow to ride through shoulder injury in “challenging” Balaton Park weekend
Cal Crutchlow reveals shoulder problem that forced early retirement from Italian GP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Italian GP
Cal Crutchlow reveals shoulder problem that forced early retirement from Italian GP
Latest news
Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut
Asian Le Mans
AsLM Asian Le Mans 33 min
Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut
2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
1 h
2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
2 h
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Denny Hamlin proud of season despite another likely missed title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
3 h
Denny Hamlin proud of season despite another likely missed title
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe