Sykes grabs Superpole in record time at Aragon

Alcaniz (Spain), Saturday 13 April 2013 - World Superbike Round 2 Tissot-Superpole was performed today at MotorLand Aragon under blue skies. After missing the top spot of the grid at Phillip Island Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) went back to his usual Saturday level by scoring the 12th Superpole of his career and set a 1'56.339 new best lap for the Spanish track.

Tom Sykes: “It has been nice to ride without any injuries this weekend as well after my fall in testing at Phillip Island. The most important thing to get today was a start on the front row and it was also good to get my first Tissot-Superpole win of the year for my Spanish-based team. Moreover, my old team-mate Joan Lascorz is doing commentary on Spanish TV so hopefully I can give him something to talk about in the races.”

The English rider saved both qualifying tyres for Superpole 3, a strategy that proved to be perfect. Fellow Brit Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) did the same, but went wide on the last lap and missed his last opportunity to snatch pole position, finishing 3rd behind Eugene Laverty. The Championship current Leader, who lead both Free Practice 2 and Superpole 1, is still looking forward to his maiden Superbike pole start.

Eugene Laverty: “Our goal is always to qualify on the front row and we managed to do that here at Aragon as well. In the last free practice session we found some good solutions for our race pace. Superpole went according to schedule. Second place is an excellent position to start from. Tomorrow will be difficult because at least four other riders other than myself are quite capable of making a play for the win and there have always been some great battles on this track.”

Chaz Davies: “It was a good step forward, it is my first front row in World Superbike. Qualifying has always been the weakest part of my weekend. I think people underestimate what it takes to learn a superbike and the difference it makes when you come back to a circuit after having the experience of racing here last year. The race pace, as we have seen in free practice, is not too bad although I think we can improve a little bit also by using that data for tomorrow’s work.”

Second works Aprilia rider and co-protagonist at Phillip Island Sylvain Guintoli gets the first slot of the second row for tomorrow's two races, making some ground after a poor start of the weekend, and will be flanked by Jules Cluzel who - onboard the FIXI Crescent Suzuki GSX-R - had an incredible maiden Superpole of his career.

6th place for Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), ahead of Italy's Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet). An unfortunate Tissot-Superpole in front of his home crowd for Carlos Checa, who couldn't make it to Superpole 3 for a matter of just 0.036 seconds.

World Supersport - Sofuoglu clinches the top spot on the grid at Aragon

Three-time and current World Superport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu put himself in the best possible situation for tomorrow's race at the end of Qualifying 2. The Mahi Racing Team India rider set a competitive 2'01.450 in the final minutes of the session to edge Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) out of pole position. The young Brit, already not 100% fit, had a crash with 35 minutes to go at Turn 15 but was able to get back on track later on in the session.

Mahi Racing Team India almost perfect qualifying is completed by 3rd place Fabien Foret, who dropped 0.8 seconds off yesterday's qualifying lap-time to get a well-deserved front row start. South Africa's Sheridan Morais showed further improvements onboard his PTR Honda Machine and finished 4th ahead of Scot Kev Coghlan (DMC Lorenzini Kawasaki), rookie Michael van der Mark - who crashed towards the end at Turn 3 - and Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres).

A superb 9th place for WSS debutant Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki), in what was only his 4th session in the series, followed by fellow Italian Raffaele De Rosa (Team Lorini Honda), able to get a top-10 finish after the difficult end of the Season Opener at Phillip Island.

WSBK Press Office