Jerez WSBK: Sykes leads Kawasaki 1-2 in qualifying
Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes claimed his fifth pole position of the World Superbike season, leading teammate and champion-elect Jonathan Rea in the qualifying session.
Tom Sykes, Kawasaki
The Briton overtook Rea late in the session with a 1m42.292s, beating the previous pole record that had belonged to his 2014 teammate Loris Baz by 0.006s.
Rea led the main Superpole 2 session early on, heading Aprilia's Jordi Torres and Honda's Michael van der Mark by less than a tenth.
Van der Mark, who had to battle his way through Superpole 1 to make the shoot-out, briefly went to the top with four minutes to go.
But Rea reclaimed the benchmark shortly thereafter, crossing the line just moments before Althea Ducati's replacement rider Niccolo Canepa took second, 0.008s off.
Sykes, however, demoted both for good shortly thereafter, setting a new lap record in the process, with Rea taking second and Canepa having to do with a career-best third place.
Van der Mark took fourth, ahead of Torres and Ducati's Chaz Davies, who mathematically stands as the only person who can stop Rea from taking the championship.
Michele Pirro and Matteo Baiocco were seventh and eighth, ahead of Suzuki's Alex Lowes, reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli and Leon Haslam.
David Salom had narrowly made it out of Superpole 1 with a late lap, only to fall immediately afterwards and miss Superpole 2.
Rea will be crowned champion in the first Jerez race if he finishes higher than 10th.
Qualifying Results:
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
1 | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki | 1'40.292 | - |
2 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | 1'40.500 | 0.208 |
3 | Niccolo Canepa | Ducati | 1'40.508 | 0.216 |
4 | Michael van der Mark | Honda | 1'40.956 | 0.664 |
5 | Jordi Torres | Aprilia | 1'40.974 | 0.682 |
6 | Chaz Davies | Ducati | 1'41.155 | 0.863 |
7 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 1'41.185 | 0.893 |
8 | Matteo Baiocco | Ducati | 1'41.415 | 1.123 |
9 | Alex Lowes | Suzuki | 1'41.427 | 1.135 |
10 | Sylvain Guintoli | Honda | 1'41.467 | 1.175 |
11 | Leon Haslam | Aprilia | 1'41.512 | 1.220 |
12 | David Salom | Kawasaki | no SP2 time | - |
13 | Leon Camier | MV Agusta | 1'41.745 | 1.453 |
14 | Leandro Mercado | Ducati | 1'41.908 | 1.616 |
15 | Randy de Puniet | Suzuki | 1'42.486 | 2.194 |
16 | Roman Ramos | Kawasaki | 1'42.584 | 2.292 |
17 | Ayrton Badovini | BMW | 1'42.714 | 2.422 |
18 | Christophe Ponsson | Kawasaki | 1'42.774 | 2.482 |
19 | Gianluca Vizziello | Kawasaki | 1'43.746 | 3.454 |
20 | Gabor Rizmayer | BMW | 1'43.826 | 3.534 |
21 | Imre Toth | BMW | 1'46.622 | 6.330 |
22 | Alex Phillis | Kawasaki | 1'46.717 | 6.425 |
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