Five for five for Spies

From the World Superbike Championship

Ben Spies made it an impressive five World Superbike Championship Superpole triumphs in five races with a blistering lap in the decisive qualifying session at the Autodromo di Monza on Saturday.

The Yamaha World Superbike team's Texan rookie star, who received his Superpole trophy from Troy Bayliss, totally disintegrated the Australian champion's previous record mark of 1:44.931 to clinch the pole with a time of 1 minute 44.073 seconds.

"It's been a really good weekend for us so far," Spies said. "We've had these poles this year but I definitely wanted to get this one for Yamaha at their home track. Congratulations to Michel and Kiyo, they did great laps, we've kind of been working under the radar this weekend, very quiet, but it looks like it's going to be a real dogfight tomorrow in the races."

The only rider who was able to stay close to Spies throughout the 50-minute session was Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), who had dominated qualifying but who had to take second best by two-tenths.

"I wanted the Superpole at all costs but Ben did a great lap," Fabrizio said. "Hopefully tomorrow I can fight with him for the first time because we have never been up against each other so far. We'll see what happens. In any case I have a much better feeling with this new Superpole formula, I didn't like the one-lap sprint at all."

Third place on the grid went to Ryuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Honda), who is starting to come good again after a difficult start to the season. The Japanese rider, who almost won here 12 months ago, headed Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare). The German was out of contention until a couple of minutes from the end, but he put in a last-minute effort to haul his GSXR into the fourth slot, making it four different makes, Yamaha, Ducati, Honda and Suzuki, on the first row of the grid.

The next rider up was Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), who had to use his second allocated qualifier to save himself from the cut after the second run.

Haga will be flanked on row two by Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing), who set the all-time fastest ever speed recorded in Superbike at 325.8 km/h, and Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare).

In row three can be found the first BMW of Troy Corser, with the leading Kawasaki of the still injured Broc Parkes.

The first Superpole run saw the elimination of two top privateers, Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda) and Jakub Smrz (Ducati Guandalini), both of whom scored podiums at Assen but who will now start from row five at Monza.

Britain's Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) powered to his fourth pole position in five World Supersport races. The points leader improved the previous record mark by almost one-tenth, leaving it at 1:49.706.

Crutchlow, in his rookie Supersport season, will not have it easy in the race however, after being pushed hard all the way by Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Provec) and Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport).

The final front row qualifier was Assen winner Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), who moved up the timesheets well after a disappointing Friday.

The second row contains Mark Aitchison (Althea Honda), who crashed harmlessly, and the Hannspree Ten Kate pairing of Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt, who are over one second off the pole pace.

Italian Gianluca Nannelli and Australian Garry McCoy were next up on the ParkinGo Be1 675 machines as Triumph attempt to get a slice of the Supersport glory.

The three candidates for the Superstock 1000 title lived up to their star billing in the qualifying session, with the first pole position of the season going to Xavier Simeon (Ducati Xerox) in 1:48.675. Just a fraction separated him from his chief rivals, Claudio Corti (Suzuki Alstare) and Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Honda), making Sunday's race a wide-open affair.

An all-Italian and all-Yamaha front row made up the qualifying session for European Superstock 600. The pole position went to wild-card Ferruccio Lamborghini (Media Action), who edged out the two favourites Danilo Petrucci and Marco Bussolotti (Trasimeno).

Superbike Qualifying Times
1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:44.073
2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1:44.270
3. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1:44.642
4. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:44.900
5. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1:45.096
6. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:45.170
7. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1:45.605
8. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1:45.861
9. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:45.166
10. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:45.383
11. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1:45.543
12. Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1:45.663
13. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1:46.368
14. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1:46.571
15. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1:46.593
16. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1:46.928