WSBK : Tom Sykes breaks record to take Monza Superpole

from Twowheelsblog

Monza’s Superpole was about taking advantage of tows and slipstreams, but Tom Sykes didn’t need to use any of these tatics with his Kawasaki ZX-10R as he scored his third consecutive Superpole of the season.

Eugene Laverty was the first rider to break Max Biaggi’s 2011 lap record, but Sykes then lowered it a few minutes later in QP2, and then bettered it again by another four tenths of second in QP3, and stopping the clock with a blazing lap of 1.41.233.

Aprilia factory riders Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli were equally fast especially on race tires, but in the third qualifying stint Laverty was just 0.078 from Sykes, while the French rider took third.

Opening the second row was an impressive Jonathan Rea with his Pata Honda. Marco Melandri had a tough session. The Italian almost missed QP1 as his BMW, like at Assen, didn’t start and his mechanics worked frantically on his bike replaced the butterfly throttle body and he was able to take part in the Superpole 1 with just five minutes to spare and he then made it through both sessions and in QP3 qualified 5th. Althea’s Davide Giugliano was forced to take sixth pipped by less than one tenth of a second by Melandri.

Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel will take off in seventh (he won the Supersport race last year at Monza) followed by team mate Leon Camier. Running off track at the Roggia with his last qualifying tire, left Chaz Davies down in 9th.

Michele Fabrizio on his home circuit will be tenth on the grid, ahead of Loris Baz and Ayrton Badovini who is the sole Alstare rider after Carlos Checa who withdrew with shoulder problems.

Max Neukirchner, Fabrizio Lai and Federico Sandi qualified 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.

If anyone was wondering why the qualifying tires had fucschia colored stripes instead of having the usual yellow, Pirelli decided to celebrate Mother’s Day with this particular color.

2013 WSBK Monza Superpole results:

1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′41.223
2. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′41.301
3. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′41.542
4. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1′41.798
5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′41.819
6. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′41.926
7. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′42.680
8. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′42.808
9. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′42.955
10. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′42.469
11. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′42.726