Sykes on pole at Aragon WSBK

Official KRT rider Tom Sykes (above) put in a new circuit best lap of 1’56.339 to win his 12th career Superpole at MotorLand Aragon.
Fellow Brit Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) went wide on the last lap and missed his last opportunity to snatch pole position, finishing 3rd behind Championship leader Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team).

Tom Sykes
“It has been a long break since the first race a few weeks ago but Kawasaki has worked so hard since then and made improvements to the bike, and that brought something extra. 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 not worry too much about pole position but it was good to get my first Superpole win of the year for my Spanish-based team. There will be two long and hard races tomorrow so it is important to keep up a high level of consistency. I have a lot of supporters here because the team is based here and my old team-mate Joan Lascorz is also doing commentary on Spanish TV so hopefully I can give him something to talk about in the races. I want to leave here with a lot of points and move forward consistently.”

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Chaz Davies, BMW Motorrad GoldBet.

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.

Sixth place for Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), ahead of Italy’s Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) and Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia). An unfortunate 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.

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Sylvain Guintoli – I think he’s the one to beat!

The Pata Honda duo of Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam have mixed feelings the Superpole sessions left them in ninth and eleventh places respectively on the grid.

Haslam, particularly, had a testing day which began with a crash in this morning’s second qualifying, causing the British rider to miss the entire 45-minute session. Technical issues in the subsequent free practice hindered his progress further but he qualified for Superpole thanks to his lap time from yesterday.

Rea, meanwhile, made impressive steps forward, finishing inside the top four in both regulation qualifying and free practice. The 26-year-old from Northern Ireland made it through to Superpole 3, where a broken wheel-speed sensor restricted him to a third row start.

Final Qualifying Positions
1. Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki
2. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aprilia
3. Chaz Davies (GBR) BMW
4. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Aprilia
5. Jules Cluzel (FRA) Suzuki
6. Loris Baz (FRA) Kawasaki
7. Davide Giugliano (ITA) Aprilia
8. Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW
9. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda
10. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati
11. Leon Haslam (GBR) Honda
12. Max Neukirchner (GER) Ducati
13. Ayrton Badovini (ITA) Ducati
14. Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Aprilia
15. Alexander Lundh (SWE) Kawasaki
16. Leon Camier (GBR)Suzuki
17. Federico Sandi (ITA) Kawasaki
18. Ivan Clementi (ITA) BMW
19. Mark Aitchinson (AUS) Ducati
20. Vittorio Iannuzzo (ITA) BMW

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