Parkes takes Supersport pole

From Yamaha Racing

Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) set a new track best at the 4.555km Assen circuit Saturday to take his first pole of the year, despite riding with a broken metacarpal bone in his left hand, sustained after a first day practice crash.

Parkes set a 1:40.895 in what was a close final qualifying session, with a further 10 riders within one second of his new track best. Parkes' teammate Fabien Foret will line up on the front row also, having set fourth best time in the last qualifying session, only 0.293 seconds from Parkes.

"I was happy to be on top yesterday and today it is a bonus again," Parkes said. "The team had the bike absolutely right so I just rode it as well as I could. Tomorrow will be a different story maybe, as I have to do 21 laps with a broken hand, but we will see how it goes. I know I can ride, so tomorrow I will have a painkiller and get through it."

Foret had reverted to his pre-Assen testing set up to earn his best time of the weekend, with a 1:41.188. Both Yamaha World Supersport team riders have now set pole positions on the all-new Yamaha YZF-R6 machine, with Foret taking his pole prize at the opening round in Qatar.

Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) was the next best placed R6 rider, pushing his machine into the top 10, even though he was not completely confident in his front end set-up during the dry final qualifying session.

Yamaha Spain riders Angel Rodriguez and David Salom were 12th and 13th respectively, with Rodriguez now on the third row of the grid and Salom the fourth.

Results
1. Broc Parkes AUS 1:40.895
2. Jonathan Rea GBR 1:40.944
3. Craig Jones GBR 1:41.077
4. Fabien Foret FRA 1:41.188
5. Joan Lascorz ESP 1:41.330
6. Ivan Clementi ITA 1:41.388
7. Joshua Brookes AUS 1:41.446
8. Barry Veneman NED 1:41.518
9. Andrew Pitt AUS 1:41.708
10. Massimo Roccoli ITA 1:41.742