2013 Moscow Raceway World Superbike Superpole Results
When the ninth round of 2013 World Superbike got underway Friday at Moscow Raceway in Russia, Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes edged out Althea Racing Aprilia’s Davide Giugliano in the final moments of qualifying.
The Italian Giguliano had led most of the qualifying session, but in a last-moment effort Sykes, who had won six Superpoles in eight rounds, took the top Friday time by a mere 0.048 of a second.
But this wasn’t the case on Saturday during Superpole at the raceway that makes its second-ever appearance in World SBK. Although Giugliano suffered a hard crash during the morning’s Qualifying 2 session, which was held under wet conditions, he went on to achieve the quickest lap during Superpole 3 to take the pole in Sunday’s double-header.
Giugliano posted a 1:34.676 aboard his Aprilia RSV4 at Moscow Raceway, achieving his first-ever Superpole. Joining Giugliano on the front row will be BMW Motorrad GoldBet’s Chaz Davies and Aprilia Racing Team’s Eugene Laverty.
But although Giguliano’s time was almost a second faster than Friday’s time, this was the first time in 2013 World SBK that the track’s Best Lap had not improved on Saturday.
As for usual pole-sitter and current World Superbike points leader Sykes, who shared a win with BMW Motorrad’s Marco Melandri last season, the Brit lost control of his Ninja ZX-10R at turn 3 of 17 on the 2.44-mile circuit. And in the era of single-bike rules, he had no spare Kawasaki to attempt a quicker lap time. Sykes will start from ninth on the grid.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R Superbike) says: “I just lost the front at the very last moment in turn three. It is a shame but sometimes these things happen. It is a small mistake and it means that we will start on row three, so it is a mistake with not a very big consequence. In this respect it is not so bad and tomorrow, in the races, is where you make up points.
“I am still confident with the settings of the Ninja ZX-10R for this track. I just need to make a clean start each time and continue in a good way. Pace in general has been strong and the lap times are good, which we saw in Superpole 1 when I was using a race tyre. It will be 25 laps each time so there will be long races here. In Imola I dropped to fourth at the very beginning and then had time to react so hopefully we have lots of time tomorrow to make the correction for today’s small mistake.”
Heading up the second row is Pata Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea, who will be joined by Melandri and Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa. The 2011 World SBK Champion also suffered a huge crash in qualifying two.
The third row will be filled by FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel, who will be joined by Aprilia Racing Team’s Sylvain Guintoli, who continues to deal with a dislocated right collarbone sustained during cycling training, and Sykes.
The 18-rider World Superbike grid will return to Moscow Raceway Sunday for the double header.
2013 Moscow Raceway World Superbike Superpole Results:
1. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’34.676
2. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1’34.833
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’34.934
4. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.058
5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1’35.115
6. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’35.220
7. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.256
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’36.113
9. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’34.546
10. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.761
11. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’35.788
12. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’36.033
13. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1’36.069
14. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’36.286
15. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’36.329
16. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’38.048
17. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1’39.079
18. Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’39.504