Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing Yamaha) rode to his first ever pole position in the WorldSSP class at Motorland Aragon, easing out 2017 champion Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) by 0.022 seconds and Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) by 0.081 seconds.
Breaking up the straight run of Yamaha machines, Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) was just over half a second slower than Cortese, in fourth place.
Early season star as he re-enters WorldSSP, Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) placed fifth on the grid for Sunday’s race. French rider Jules Cluzel (NRT Yamaha) was sixth, completing the second row of the grid.
On the injured Kenan Sofuoglu’s official machine, Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was a more than respectable seventh, one place up on British runner Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing Triumph).
De Rosa’s team-mate Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) was tenth and the other official Kawasaki rider, Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), tenth.
Anthony West (EAB antwest Racing Kawasaki) was a disappointed 15th, Lachlan Epis (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) 27th after a fall, and Andrew Irwin (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 26th.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA