Sykes Equals All-Time Superpole Win Total

Savadori would not set a time again and eventually went out of contention with a fractured left collarbone. After the session finally completed Tom Sykes (KRT) took his 43^rd career Superpole win – levelling with Tory Corser for the all-time record of Superpoles.

Sykes’ said of his momentous pre-race ‘win’, “It feels good because everybody knows how good Troy is. I have equalled it in a short time and in the last few seasons I have been getting about eight, on average. I spoke to Troy this morning and we had a bit of a sword fight in the toilets about me getting closer to the total! In the tests and free practices the bike has been doing what it has been told to.”

Second was Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), who said of the good start to 2018, “Twelve months ago I did not make it into Superpole. So to be at the sharp end here means that we have done a good job over the past 12 months.”

The trio of front row places were completed by Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). It was all a bit of a pleasant surprise for him. “I am happy because I thought I did get a good lap time and today the wind is very difficult,” said Melandri. “Even in my best laps I made a lot of mistakes. To do 22 laps is going to be very tough so I hope that the wind will be better later.”

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK) fell but managed to set the fourth best time, with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fifth and the clearly toiling Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) sixth.

Fastest man in FP4 earlier in the day, Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) was seventh and second Pata Yamaha rider Michael van der Mark eighth.

Coming from SP1, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was a strong ninth, but the other riders failed to record a time of any kind after falls, with Savadori not making the grid for race one to boot.

Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was ranked 11^th but will start tenth and his fellow faller Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was 12^th but starts 11^th.

That allowed Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda WorldSBK) to finish up 12^th on the grid, despite just missing a Superpole 2 ride.

In SP1 a grey cloud overhead meant that the WorldSBK SP1 qualifiers set about the job of going for a fast qualifying time and final grid position without delay. The potential rains stayed away which let Jordi Torres and Toprak Razgatlioglu join the fastest qualifiers from Superpole 1.

By Gordon Ritchie

Photography: GnG