Tom Sykes breaks record on his way to Magny-Cours pole position

Tom Sykes can officially claim to be the 2012 season’s Superpole king. The Kawasaki rider literally blasted all his rivals out of today’s Superpole session at Magny-Cours to take his 9th pole position of the season and shattering the previous lap record of 1′37.490 with a stunning lap in 1’36″950 in the SP3.

Joining Sykes on the front row will be Carlos Checa whose team had to work double time during the break between FP2 and Superpole to change the engine of his Ducati after a technical issue at the start of FP2 kept him from practicing. Aprilia Eugene Laverty was third after an error in the final secort while still injured Marco Melandri closed out the final spot by edging out Pata’s Sylvain Guintoli for fourth.

While Aprilia’s Laverty was able to qualify third with a used qualifying tire, team mate Max Biaggi who used the same strategy after using up both tires, could only qualify on the row three and in 10th. The Italian has a 30.5 point advantage over Sykes in the standings and will need only two sixth place finishes to win the championship but his races could turn out to be an unhill battle if he finds himself bottled in or if the weather forecast should change.

Jonathan Rea qualified in sixth place, edging out injured Leon Haslam and an impressive Chaz Davies in 8th, who missed FP1 due to a technical issue and most of QP2 due to a crash. After the announcement that he’ll be staying in Suzuki in 2013 Leon Camier took ninth ahead of the despondent Biaggi.

Michel Fabrizio was 11th while Claudio Corti in his excellent debut on the Pedercini Kawasaki qualified 12th after making it into SP2. The fourth row will include Loris Baz, Maxime Berger, Davide Giugliano and Lorenzo Zanetti.

It has been confirmed that John Hopkins will not be taking part in tomorrow’s final round due to a returning hip injury.

WSBK Magny-Cours Superpole results:

1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′36.950
2. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′37.422
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′37.516
4. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′37.658
5. Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′37.901
6. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′38.252
7. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.280
8. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′38.425
9. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′38.072
10. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′38.095

from Twowheelsblog