Tom Sykes made mincemeat of the opposition at Misano World Superbikes as the Kawasaki man blew the opposition away to take Superpole with a stunning lap.
Sykes had found himself in Superpole One after a disappointing third practice session but, after winning that session with Ayrton Badovini in second, the 29-year-old delivered a superb performance in the session that mattered as he brought his Kawasaki around the Misano circuit in a time of 1’34.214 to smash his own record in the process.
“I am a little bit surprised to be win Superpole because I was not sure if my lap was good enough. But it was, so for this I am happy. I used a race tyre, then a qualifier in Superpole 1 and finally we had to do three fast laps on the front tyre,” said Sykes.
“I did a 1’34.9 on a race tyre at one stage but the front tyre had already done ten laps. The new track surface is good and the circuit is faster, and a better camber in some areas. We have had a good way of working through the weekend but we had to try a couple of different things and they did not work out.
“We got caught out because we did not put a fresh tyre in during practice to check our performance over one lap. In a way it was good to do Superpole 1 because I got three extra flying laps in. At this level it gives you a bit more understanding, especially on fresh tyres.”
Earlier, a 1’34.486 saw Sykes break his own outright lap record in Superpole One and, not content with that, the Yorkshireman saw fit to get a real tune from his ZX-10R as he left his opponents behind to secure the 27th pole of his career.
Joining Sykes on the front row for tomorrow’s races will be Leon Haslam and Davide Giugliano, who tried in vain to overhaul the Kawasaki rider’s incredible efforts, but aside from being on the front row Haslam will delight in having wildcard team-mate Max Biaggi behind him.
Biaggi had threatened to come back to World Superbikes in a real blaze of glory following some fantastic practice sessions but the ‘Roman Emperor’ could only find enough to finish fifth in Superpole as a late Jonathan Rea lap pipped him to fourth place.
Jordi Torres will join Biaggi and Rea on the second row after the Aprilia rider delivered a fine 1’34.551, ahead of the impressive feats of the duo of Alex Lowes and Ayrton Badovini who will be accompanied on the third row by current champion Sylvain Guintoli.
Rounding out the top ten was Michele Pirro, with the Aruba.it Ducati wildcard’s team-mate and championship contender Chaz Davies finishing a disappointing 11th as Matteo Baiocco completed the fourth row.
Elsewhere, after their respective Superpole one efforts, Michael Van Der Mark, Leon Camier and Randy DePuniet will start tomorrow’s races 15th, 18th and 19th.
