Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes showed his speed by sitting on pole position for nearly half of the wet Superpole at the Donington Park 11th round of the World Superbike Championship, before eventually ending up seventh after a late crash meant he wasn’t able to improve as the track became faster. Due to the wet conditions Superpole took a different form where each rider is allowed a maximum of 12 laps. Sykes went out early in the session using only five of his laps and securing pole position which he then held for 23-minutes.
As Superpole progressed the track conditions improved, Sykes slipped down the order. Keen to go for pole, Sykes and his Rizla Suzuki returned to the action only to succumb to a high-side crash at Coppice corner during the last five minutes of qualifying – luckily he walked away unhurt.
Tom and the team are feeling confident going into tomorrow’s double-header. Race one takes place on Sunday 7th September at 1200 with race two at 1530. The racing will be shown live on British Eurosport from 1030-1630.
Tom:
“That was an interesting session. We made some changes and straight away they worked. I was very happy with everything and we did hold pole for a long time. We decided to go back out in the last few minutes and I must admit I didn’t feel it was a big mistake but I paid the price. All in all second row is good at World Championship level. Hats off to the whole team as we have made a lot of progress with our wet setting which was our main concern and we can take that to BSB. I’d like a couple of dry races but I won’t lose any sleep over it. I’ll wake up tomorrow morning, look out the window and take it from there.”
Jack Valentine, Team Manager:
“Overall I’m pleased with today. We held pole for the first half of the session and then slipped to second where we stayed for a while. As we saw everyone’s lap times start to improve we decided to go back out during the last 10 minutes. I think Tom did a fantastic job and was unlucky to go down at Coppice. He has been riding at a high level and mixing it with the World Class riders in horrible conditions. He needs that kind of experience to get to the next zone and needs to be out there challenging the other riders. Everyone is in good spirits, the bike is well set-up and we are looking forward to tomorrow. The team has done a first class job.”
Qualifying results:
1. Troy Bayliss, AUS, (Ducati) 1:42.013
2. Ryuichi Kiyonari, JPN, (Honda) +0.340
3. Carlos Checa, ESP, (Honda) +0.473
4. Ruben Xaus, ESP, (Ducati) +0.560
5. James Ellison, GBR, (Honda) +0.569
6. Max Biaggi, ITA, (Ducati) +0.606
7. Tom Sykes, GBR, (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.611
8. Troy Corser, AUS, (Yamaha) +0.862
9. Cal Crutchlow, GBR, (Honda) +1.112
10. Michel Fabrizio, ITA, (Ducati) +1.159
