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Edition

Australia
Qualifying report

Misano WSBK: Sykes beats Rea to pole by 0.033s

Tom Sykes snatched World Superbike pole position away from Kawasaki teammate Jonathan Rea by just 0.033 seconds for the opening race of the Misano round.

Pole sitter Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing, second place Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing, third place Eugene Laverty, Milwaukee Aprilia

Pole sitter Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing, second place Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing, third place Eugene Laverty, Milwaukee Aprilia

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing
Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Eugene Laverty, Milwaukee Aprilia
Eugene Laverty, Milwaukee Aprilia
Alex Lowes, Pata Yamaha

Rea, who was quickest in Saturday morning's FP4, set the early pace on race tyres in SP2 with a 1m34.467s, which he improved to a 1m34.223s on his second tour.

However, he had his second lap cancelled for exceeding track limits on the exit of the final corner, though remained top of the pile by virtue of his opening gambit.

Althea BMW's Loris Baz shadowed the Northern Irishman by just under three tenths of a second, while Sykes was only sixth at the end of his first run.

Aprilia's Eugene Laverty set the benchmark at 1m34.441s on his opening qualifying tyre lap, though this was immediately usurped by Rea, who fired in a near-record lap of 1m33.673s.

A crash for Yamaha's Alex Lowes at the Carro hairpin in the dying seconds threatened to derail Sykes' charge, but his time loss through the third sector was minimal, and he completed the tour with a new lap record of 1m33.640s for his seventh-successive Misano pole.

Rea held onto second, 0.033s behind, while a second lap of 1m34.281s from Laverty secure him the final spot on the front row.

Barni Racing's Xavi Fores was comfortably the top Ducati rider at the head of the second row, with Friday's fastest rider Lorenzo Savadori fifth on the second Aprilia.

Baz ended up sixth on the BMW, while a final lap of 1m34.532s elevated Chaz Davies to seventh, 0.001s ahead of Ducati teammate Marco Melandri.

Jordi Torres put his MV Agusta ninth having come through SP1, with Leon Camier 10th on the sole Honda inside the top 12.

The Yamaha duo of Michael van der Mark, who topped SP1, and Lowes complete the top 12.

Lowes was able to put in a lap after his crash for 11th, but he was demoted for failing to return to pitlane following his fall for precautionary machine checks.

Orelac's Leandro Mercado put Torres' SP2 place under threat in the dying stages of SP1, but was six tenths down on the MV Agusta rider in the end and will line up 13th.

Puccetti's Toprak Razgatlioglu was a further four tenths back in 14th, the Turk – who is still recovering from a broken toes sustained at Laguna Seca - digging deep on his final lap to leap up the order.

A technical issue for Guandalini stand-in Alessandro Andreozzi early in the session left the Italian 21st and last, while Ducati's Michael Ruben Rinaldi could only muster 20th for his first race since the Brno round.

Qualifying results:

Cla#RiderBikeTimeGapkm/h
1 66 united_kingdom Tom Sykes Kawasaki 1'33.640   162.469
2 1 united_kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1'33.673 0.033 162.411
3 50 ireland Eugene Laverty Aprilia 1'34.281 0.641 161.364
4 12 spain Xavi Fores Ducati 1'34.363 0.723 161.224
5 32 italy Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1'34.400 0.760 161.161
6 76 france Loris Baz BMW 1'34.527 0.887 160.944
7 7 united_kingdom Chaz Davies Ducati 1'34.532 0.892 160.935
8 33 italy Marco Melandri Ducati 1'34.533 0.893 160.934
9 81 spain Jordi Torres MV Agusta 1'34.569 0.929 160.873
10 2 united_kingdom Leon Camier Honda 1'34.597 0.957 160.825
11 60 netherlands Michael van der Mark Yamaha 1'34.605 0.965 160.811
12 22 united_kingdom Alex Lowes Yamaha 1'35.239 1.599 159.741
13 36 argentina Leandro Mercado Kawasaki 1'35.473 1.833 159.349
14 54 turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki 1'35.869 2.229 158.691
15 68 colombia Yonny Hernandez Kawasaki 1'35.918 2.278 158.610
16 94 italy Niccolo Canepa Yamaha 1'36.064 2.424 158.369
17 99 united_states PJ Jacobsen Honda 1'36.233 2.593 158.091
18 40 spain Roman Ramos Kawasaki 1'36.348 2.708 157.902
19 45 united_states Jake Gagne Honda 1'36.599 2.959 157.492
20 21 italy  Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 1'36.644 3.004 157.418
21 24 italy Alessandro Andreozzi Yamaha 1'37.297 3.657 156.362

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