Qualifying report
World Superbike Losail
Qatar WSBK: Sykes beats Rea to final pole of 2018
Tom Sykes took pole position for his final World Superbike round as a factory Kawasaki rider in Qatar, beating his teammate Jonathan Rea by a tenth of a second.
David Gruz
Edited: Oct 26, 2018, 5:07 PM
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Sykes took his sixth pole of the season, and has now topped five qualifying sessions out of the last seven.
The 33-year-old was narrowly beaten to the early lead by Yamaha's Alex Lowes, whose 1m57.128s time was the benchmark until the final minute of qualifying.
Lowes was temporarily demoted by Eugene Laverty before surging back ahead, leading as the chequered flag fell.
But Kawasaki duo Rea and Sykes both improved, first the reigning champion beating Lowes by exactly one tenth and then Sykes setting a 1m56.124s.
Lowes will complete an all-British front row in third, followed by the Aprilias of Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori.
Barni's Xavi Fores was the top Ducati rider in sixth, over a second off the pace.
Fores came through the first part of qualifying where he was second behind Leon Camier (Ten Kate Honda).
The sole BMW of Loris Baz will start the race seventh as Michael van der Mark had to settle for eighth, more than a second slower than his teammate Lowes.
The top 10 was completed by Marco Melandri (Ducati) and Camier, followed by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) and Chaz Davies (Ducati).
Leandro Mercado was the fastest rider not to make it to SP2 and is set to start 13th, as the Orelac Kawasaki man's final fast lap ended with a crash.
Grid for Race 1:
Pos. Rider Bike Time Gap 1 
Tom Sykes Kawasaki 1'56.124 2 
Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1'56.255 0.131 3 Alex Lowes Yamaha 1'56.355 0.231 4 
Eugene Laverty Aprilia 1'56.534 0.410 5 
Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 1'56.959 0.835 6 
Xavi Fores Ducati 1'57.281 1.157 7 
Loris Baz BMW 1'57.347 1.223 8 
Michael van der Mark Yamaha 1'57.362 1.238 9 
Marco Melandri Ducati 1'57.407 1.283 10 
Leon Camier Honda 1'57.682 1.558 11 
Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki 1'57.695 1.571 12 Chaz Davies Ducati 1'57.867 1.743 13 
Leandro Mercado Kawasaki 1'58.440 2.316 14 
Jake Gagne Honda 1'58.559 2.435 15 
Gabriele Ruiu Kawasaki 1'58.956 2.832 16 
Roman Ramos Kawasaki 1'59.300 3.176 17 
Maximilian Scheib MV Agusta 1'59.390 3.266
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