A new all-time Phillip Island Superbike track record of 1’29.230 gave BMW’s Tom Sykes a stunning pole position Superpole win and extended Sykes’ all-time Superpole winning record to an astounding 50.
The next nearest rider in terms of career Superpole trophies is Troy Corser, with 43. It was Sykes’ second BMW pole position, the last being at Donington in 2019.
Fully 0.339 seconds behind Sykes, Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) continued his strong showing in his first WorldSBK weekend all the same, taking second place. Five times champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) placed third, and starts on the front row for today’s first 22 lap race.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was first Yamaha rider home in fourth.
In an up and down session for the all-new Honda factory effort, Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) came back from an FP3 crash to fifth on the grid, with his team-mate Bautista crashing in Superpole and ending up 15th.
Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was seventh; Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) eighth. The top ten riders all qualified within a second of each other, with Sandro Cortese (Outdo Kawasaki PTR) ninth and Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) tenth.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was a disappointing 16th of the 18 riders who made Superpole. Leon Camier (Barni Racing Ducati) has had to withdraw from the weekend after his left shoulder injury and recovery situation proved too difficult to overcome.
