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World Superbike
WSBK: Sykes Strikes Up Superpole Win #9
Tom Sykes will open his underdog quest for the World Superbike crown this weekend from pole at Magny-Cours.
Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes (Photo: Infront Motor Sports)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Superbike World Championship season finale from Magny-Cours, France will air on SPEED on Sunday, October 7th at 4:00pm and 6:00pm ET.
Tissot-Superpole was won for the ninth time in 2012 by Kawasaki Racing Team rider Tom Sykes, after a he set a new track best of 1 minute 36.950 seconds in Superpole 3 at Magny-Cours. Sykes now has nine Tissot-Superpole successes to his credit this year, and 11 in his relatively short SBK career. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) posted second quickest time, over half a second away from Sykes, while Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) held off the attentions of Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport), who will line up on the front row in fourth place. Championship leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) is only tenth on the grid after failing to get out of Superpole 2. This puts him on the third row of the grid for Sunday’s races.
Tom Sykes: “It’s nice for me to start in pole position, I’m not a big fan of this place, but the ZX-10R is working very nice and I’m able to do what is needed with the bike. We’ve been consistent, our dry race setting is very good and when we put in the Pirelli qualifying tyres the Kawasaki seems to accept these very well. It makes my life easier and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Carlos Checa: “I have great memories from last year when I won here, and arriving here for our last race this year, it’s a great satisfaction to bring the Ducati 1198 to the front row in its last race. Hopefully tomorrow we can have some great races and finish as best as we can.”
Eugene Laverty: “I went for a second lap in qualifying, took a bit of a breather then went for it again, but I’ve been struggling all weekend in the last sector and I lost the front and the rear came around as well. It was all action I didn’t really need, that but what’s important is the front row after a tough weekend.”
PATA Ducati rider Sylvain Guintoli was a popular top five rider in Superpole at his home round, while Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) put himself into the top six. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) pushed to seventh despite a badly injured right index finger. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia) completed the top eight after making a great improvement on his early qualifying places. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) finished up ninth on the grid one place ahead of Max Biaggi.
Tissot-Superpole Times: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'36.950 average 163.792 kph; 2. Checa (Ducati) 1'37.422; 3. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'37.516; 4. Melandri (BMW) 1'37.658; 5. Guintoli (Ducati) 1'37.901; 6. Rea (Honda) 1'38.252; 7. Haslam (BMW) 1'38.280; 8. Davies (Aprilia) 1'38.425; 9. Camier (Suzuki) 1'38.072; 10. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'38.095; 11. Fabrizio (BMW) 1'38.318; 12. Corti (Kawasaki) 1'38.516; 13. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'38.548; 14. Berger (Ducati) 1'38.727; 15. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'38.807; 16. Zanetti (Ducati) 1'39.354; etc.
Tissot-Superpole was won for the ninth time in 2012 by Kawasaki Racing Team rider Tom Sykes, after a he set a new track best of 1 minute 36.950 seconds in Superpole 3 at Magny-Cours. Sykes now has nine Tissot-Superpole successes to his credit this year, and 11 in his relatively short SBK career. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) posted second quickest time, over half a second away from Sykes, while Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) held off the attentions of Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport), who will line up on the front row in fourth place. Championship leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) is only tenth on the grid after failing to get out of Superpole 2. This puts him on the third row of the grid for Sunday’s races.
Tom Sykes: “It’s nice for me to start in pole position, I’m not a big fan of this place, but the ZX-10R is working very nice and I’m able to do what is needed with the bike. We’ve been consistent, our dry race setting is very good and when we put in the Pirelli qualifying tyres the Kawasaki seems to accept these very well. It makes my life easier and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Carlos Checa: “I have great memories from last year when I won here, and arriving here for our last race this year, it’s a great satisfaction to bring the Ducati 1198 to the front row in its last race. Hopefully tomorrow we can have some great races and finish as best as we can.”
Eugene Laverty: “I went for a second lap in qualifying, took a bit of a breather then went for it again, but I’ve been struggling all weekend in the last sector and I lost the front and the rear came around as well. It was all action I didn’t really need, that but what’s important is the front row after a tough weekend.”
PATA Ducati rider Sylvain Guintoli was a popular top five rider in Superpole at his home round, while Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) put himself into the top six. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) pushed to seventh despite a badly injured right index finger. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia) completed the top eight after making a great improvement on his early qualifying places. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) finished up ninth on the grid one place ahead of Max Biaggi.
Tissot-Superpole Times: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'36.950 average 163.792 kph; 2. Checa (Ducati) 1'37.422; 3. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'37.516; 4. Melandri (BMW) 1'37.658; 5. Guintoli (Ducati) 1'37.901; 6. Rea (Honda) 1'38.252; 7. Haslam (BMW) 1'38.280; 8. Davies (Aprilia) 1'38.425; 9. Camier (Suzuki) 1'38.072; 10. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'38.095; 11. Fabrizio (BMW) 1'38.318; 12. Corti (Kawasaki) 1'38.516; 13. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'38.548; 14. Berger (Ducati) 1'38.727; 15. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'38.807; 16. Zanetti (Ducati) 1'39.354; etc.
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