From the World Superbike Championship
Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) equaled the record of 10 Superpoles in his rookie WSB season to line up in the front slot for the penultimate round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours on Saturday.
The Texan bolted on one of his two regulation Q-tires in the final few minutes to stop the clocks with an incredible time of 1 minute 37.709 seconds, a new circuit best lap.
“It was a good lap, four-tenths ahead of the other guys," Spies said, "but we’ve been mainly working more on race tires and fuel loads all weekend and trying to make the bike come good on Sunday and this was the first time we’ve really put in a really fast one.
"It’s going to be a good race, the same four guys as last time, and Biaggi’s very close, but I’m confident with the bike, unlike last week at Imola.”
Spies was the only rider to dip under the 1:38 mark, and his time left Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea trailing four-tenths of a second behind in second place.
“We’re in a good position anyway this weekend with race pace and I’m really happy, the team is working well and the bike’s working excellent," Rea said. "It seems to be the same culprits up at the front again.
"We’ve been working on our starts all over the weekend, so we hope to get a good one. It’s our test circuit here but nothing is really relevant because the pace is so much faster than last year and this one is all about who hangs in there at the end.”
Third quickest time went to Italian Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), with Max Biaggi in fourth, the Aprilia Racing man knocking Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) off the front row of the grid with the final lap at his disposal.
"I’m not very happy," Fabrizio admitted. "This qualifying was very hard for me. My number one Ducati, which I was very happy with, broke down and the number two had a few problems and we had to change everything in a hurry and I wasn’t really able to challenge in Superpole but a front row is OK anyway. Tomorrow for sure I will try for the win, if not I should have stayed stay at home, but then we’ll see how things go during the race.”
Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda) produced another storming performance to line up in sixth place behind Haga, while the surprise of the day came from Spain’s Fonsi Nieto (Ducati DFX) in seventh, his best result of the season.
The second row of the grid was completed by Troy Corser, his BMW again up in the front rows after the disappointment of Imola.
Karl Muggeridge (Suzuki Alstare) had an encouraging Superpole session to end up on row 3, while Leon Camier finished his first Superpole on his Aprilia debut with 16th quickest time.
Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha World Supersport) echoed his fellow Yamaha rider’s performance with another pole position in Supersport, the British rider taking his 10th pole of the year in 13 rounds and his fifth in a row.
Crutchlow was also the only rider to get under the 1:41 mark, lapping six-tenths quicker than the previous record, in 1:41.543, but he had to wait until the last couple of minutes to grab the pole as Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com) had been quickest until then.
The other two front row men were Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), Crutchlow’s rival in the title fight.
Everything went according to plan in Superstock 1000 qualifying for Xavier Simeon (Ducati Xerox), who scored his fifth pole position of the season. The points leader, who needs just five points to clinch the title, was the only rider to dip under 1:42, with a time of 1:41.722.
European Superstock 600 qualifying went the way of Marco Bussolotti, with the Yamaha Trasimeno man grabbing the top slot right at the end of a tough battle for pole. Bussolotti set a quickest time of 1:45.547. Alongside him on the front row will be Britain’s Gino Rea (Ten Kate Honda), who is also still in with a shot at the title, while the top two in the championship, Danilo Petrucci (Yamaha Trasimeno) and Vincent Lonbois (MTM Yamaha) line up in eighth and fifth respectively.
Superbike Qualifying Times
1. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:37.709
2. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:38.191
3. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1:38.196
4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1:38.235
5. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1:38.365
6. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1:38.625
7. Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1:38.670
8. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1:39.114
9. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1:38.831
10. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1:38.844
11. Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9 1:38.851
12. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1:38.924
13. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9 1:39.148
14. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF-R1 1:39.361
15. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1:39.444
16. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1:39.703
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