Silverstone Superpole
The World Superbike Superpole qualifying session was run on a dry racetrack at Silverstone in spite of threatening clouds that hover in the unpredictable English sky.
The current points leader of the World SBK rider rankings, Max Biaggi, was a key player in a truly heated session which saw him enter the top eight with only three tenths gap behind second place.
In the battle of the top eight Max recorded a time of 2’05.682 to move him into sixth during a very decisive final lap. Biaggi stated that he was finding some rough spots on the track that were unsetting the motorcycle. Cal Crutchlow again finished 1st in Superpole on his Yamaha R1 with a time of 2:04.091. Jonathan Rea finished second on his Honda CBR1000RR with a time of 2:04.763.
Michel Fabrizio finished third while Jakub Smrz on his new Aprilia RSV4 finished and an impressive fourth with a time of 2:05.1685 ahead of both Aprilia Facotry riders.
Leon Haslam, one of the hometown brits and title antagonist, also finished in front of Biaggi with a time of 2:05.595.
Biaggi’s teammate Leon Camier was even more unfortunate, looking quite fast during the practice rounds, but ended his day in left in the second pole session (sixteenth, 2’06’064) after having his best time deleted for letting his rear wheel go outside of the regulation area.
Max Biaggi (In Sixth) says: "We still have some problems, especially in the section where the asphalt is the roughest. Lap performance is in fact conditioned by these difficulties, but tomorrow over the long distance the dynamics could change."
"We expect two hard races, hoping that the weather gives us a hand although anything is to be expected here in England. The home riders are doing very well – we are still lacking something in order to be quick. I hope that my team can put me into some better conditions tomorrow."
Leon Camier says: "The deleted time was only the last problem since I was never able to close out a clean lap due to the traffic on the track. It’s a shame when you think about what we demonstrated during all of the sessions. Honestly I didn’t expect to start on the fourth row. Anyway, I like Silverstone, we’ve done a good job, so I’m looking ahead and thinking about the two races tomorrow. It will be hard work!"
