The man who won three of the past four races at Aragon World Superbike, Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies, has secured the pole for this weekend’s double header.The Welshman, running a new Pirelli qualifying tire at Motorland Aragon, posted a best lap of 1:49.319 during Superpole for round 3 of 13. Joining Davies on the front row are Kawasaki Racing teammates Jonathan Rea, the two-time reigning WorldSBK Champion, and 2013 SBK Champion Tom Sykes.
Rea, who had doubled in both opening rounds in Australia and Thailand from pole, finished 0.031 of a second behind Davies. As for Sykes, he was 0.173 of a second off the pace.Ducati’s Chaz DaviesHeading up row two is Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Marco Melandri, who will be joined by Spaniards Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) and Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team).Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) qualified on row three.The sole American in 2017 World Superbike, Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) came through as the leader of Tissot Superpole 1 to qualify 10th.Five minutes into the Tissot Superpole 2 shootout Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) pulled off track due to a technical problem with his Yamaha YZF R1, effectively ending his session as he qualified 12th. Later it was Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) who was another victim of technical issues as his Honda CBR1000RR came to a sudden halt, leaving him 11th on the grid.Crashes in close succession for Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Ondrej Jezek (Grillini Racing Team) and Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team) towards the end of Tissot Superpole 1 saw them all slide out of contention and unable to challenge for Superpole 2 positions.Race 1 at Motorland Aragon gets underway at 1 p.m. local time.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
