2012 World Superbike
The Superpole sessions for the 25th round of the World Superbike Championship were canceled Saturday due to the death of Australian Superstock 600 rider Oscar McIngtyre (for a report, click here).
Now, riders will grid up based on the combined best times in the qualifying one and two sessions. This gives Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes the pole on his ZX-10R; this was the third-career pole of Sykes, who last season (Nurburgring) gave Kawasaki its first win in World SBK since 2006.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R Superbike) says: “Pole position has come with mixed emotions because of some very bad news and first and foremost I want to pass on my condolences to the family and friends of Oscar McIntyre.
“It seems unimportant in many ways now but as far as our on-track weekend has worked out yesterday we just made sure things were right with the bike and pushed a bit more in this morning’s cooler qualifying session.
“My pole lap was not a clean one but we still set the fastest time, which shows a good level of progress. Phillip Island has not been a great track for me in the past but Kawasaki has put in a huge amount of work during the winter on the Ninja ZX-10R. We will see what tomorrow brings but I want to get two good races under my belt before I head back to Europe.”
Sykes posted a 1:31.323, and was trailed 0.154 of a second back by Aprilia Racing’s Max Biaggi.
Taking the final two spots on the front row were the reigning World SBK Champion Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati) and Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Ducati).
Heading up the second row is Effenbert/Liberty Ducati’s Sylvain Guintoli. The Frenchman will be joined by Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki), Niccolo Canepa (Red Devils Roma Ducati) and Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea.
Two 22-lap Superbike races will take place on Sunday at Phillip Island, which is hosting the opening weekend of a 14-round season.
2012 World Superbike, Phillip Island Qualifying Results:
1. Tom Sykes 1m31.323s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2. Max Biaggi +0.154s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3. Carlos Checa +0.298s SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
4. Jakub Smrz +0.460s CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
5. Sylvain Guintoli +0.509s FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
6. Leon Camier +0.581s GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
7. Niccolo Canepa +0.630s ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
8. Jonathan Rea +0.636s GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
9. Maxime Berger +0.643s ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
10. Michel Fabrizio +0.745s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
11. Eugene Laverty +0.746s IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
12. Leon Haslam +0.759s GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
13. Marco Melandri +0.800s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
14. Davide Giugliano +0.875s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
15. Chaz Davies +1.015s GBR APRILIA ParkinGO MTC Racing
16. Joan Lascorz +1.088s ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
17. Hiroshi Aoyama +1.253s JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
18. Bryan Staring +1.290s AUS KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
19. David Salom +1.317s SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
20. Ayrton Badovini +1.380s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
21. Lorenzo Zanetti +1.459s ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
22. Josh Brookes +2.061s AUS SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
23. Mark Aitchison +2.073s AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
24. Raffaele De Rosa +2.078s ITA HONDA Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda
25. David Johnson +2.493s AUS BMW Rossair AEP Racing