Superpole 2 was stopped even before it got properly started, with Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) crashing out and lying trackside, which brought the session to a premature halt.
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 43rd career Superpole win – levelling with Tory Corser for the all-time record of Superpoles.
Savadori, Australian WSBK 2018
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.”
Sykes, Australian WSBK 2018
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.”
Melandri, Australian WSBK 2018
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.
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- Laverty, Australian WSBK 2018
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- Davies, Australian WSBK 2018
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- Rea, Australian WSBK 2018
Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was ranked 11th but will start tenth and his fellow faller Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was 12th but starts 11th.
That allowed Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda WorldSBK) to finish up 12th on the grid, despite just missing a Superpole 2 ride.
Gagne, Australian WSBK 2018
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.
Laverty, Sykes, Melandri, Australian WSBK 2018
By Gordon Ritchie
Photography: GnG