Bayliss takes Brno pole

From worldsbk.com

Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) grabbed Superpole for round 9 of the WSBK championship with a blistering record lap of 1 minute 58.345 seconds at the newly-resurfaced Automotodrom Brno circuit.

Today's pole was the 22nd of the points leader's career, and his fourth this season, a result that takes him past Carl Fogarty in the all-time pole classification into second behind Troy Corser on 42.

"It hasn't always looked good on this track for us, especially last year, and it's been a bit of a bogey track for me as well," Bayliss said. "I've never really had great results here in the past and I'd love to turn that around. When I saw Corser's lap I knew I had to do a good one to beat that and when Max [Biaggi] was out, I would have given him a real pat on the back if he had gone faster than that."

Bayliss's chief rival today in Superpole was in fact Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who was just one tenth of a second down. Third quickest was Bayliss's Ducati Xerox teammate Michel Fabrizio, while fourth went to another Italian Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), quickest overall in qualifying.

"There's always a risk when you go out before the end of the Superpole and set the quickest time, especially when Bayliss is around because I know he's going to grit his teeth and try and get there," Corser said. "But we've got a really good set-up for race tires tomorrow, we've done a pretty good race distance and it's all looking really good."

The biggest mover today was Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who powered to fifth place and a row 2 start in Superpole after qualifying for the one-lap dash in 16th. The Japanese rider will be accompanied by WSBK rookie Niccolò Canepa (Ducati Xerox), Spain's Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki Alstare) and Czech star Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati).

Bayliss's chief rivals in the championship failed to emerge, Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) both qualifying on the third row, while Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) is even further behind on row 4.

Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) was again quickest in the second and final World Supersport qualifying session. The 26-year-old Australian set a record lap of 2:03.204 ten minutes from the end to grab his fifth successive Supersport pole.

Parkes will be joined on the front row by the surprising Dutch rider Barry Veneman (RES Software Suzuki), who qualified ahead of Australians Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) and points leader Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).

The second row is made up of Britain's Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda), ahead of Mark Aitchison (Triumph BE1 Racing) and Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) while Finland's Vesa Kallio (Benjan Racing Honda) scored his best result of the year in eighth.

Australian Garry McCoy (Triumph SC) had a nasty crash, suffering a cracked vertebra and a bruised right lung in the process.

A Ducati also took pole position in Superstock 1000 qualifying, the Xerox Junior Team 1098 version of Australian Brendan Roberts, who was pushed hard by Italian Michele Pirro (Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni). The other two riders on the front row are Maxime Berger (Hannspree IDS Ten Kate Honda) of France and points leader Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki) of Belgium.

Czech youngster Patrick Vostarek (Intermoto Czech Honda) scored his third Superstock 600 win in a row at the Automotodrom Brno after a battle right down to the last corner with Loris Baz (YZF Yamaha Junior Team), who still holds on to his points lead in the table.

Superbike Qualifying Results
1. Bayliss T. (AUS) Ducati 1098 F08 1:58.345
2. Corser T. (AUS) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:58.451
3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1:58.853
4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:59.069
5. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.318
6. Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098 F08 1:59.324
7. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:59.360
8. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:59.451
9. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:59.497
10. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:59.537
11. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:59.545
12. Haga N. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:59.571
13. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:59.587
14. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1:59.639
15. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.306
16. Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:01.161
17. Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:00.228
18. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:00.232
19. Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.304
20. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.374
21. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:00.482
22. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:00.641
23. Aoyama S. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 2:00.905
24. Gimbert S. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:01.059
25. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2:01.214
26. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 2:01.302
27. Drasdak J. (CZE) Honda CBR1000RR 2:02.373
28. Zaiser C. (AUT) Yamaha YZF-R1 2:03.118
29. Pridmore J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 2:03.397
30. Cihak M. (CZE) Suzuki GSX-R1000 K8 2:03.758