Source: WorldSBK.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) has won his first Tissot-Superpole of the season after a tense final 15-minute shootout at Assen.

The 4.542km Cathedral of Speed once again produced an exciting climax to the WorldSBK qualifying session in which the top eight riders on the grid for tomorrow’s two 21-lap races were covered by a second.

Today’s pole position is the 25th of Tom’s career, his first since Magny-Cours 2014. Joining Sykes on the front row will be his teammate Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils).

Row two was decided in the final minute as Chaz Davies’ valiant effort to overhaul Sykes failed after a mistake at the exit of turn nine, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team rider will start fourth with local hero Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) fifth and sixth respectively.

On the third row of the grid Xavi Fores (Aruba.it Racing Ducati SBK Team) will line up alongside Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) and Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) in what was the most closely fought Tissot-Superpole of the season so far.

Earlier Guintoli and Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing Ducati) were the two riders to progress from Superpole 1, with the Argentine claiming tenth place ahead of Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Nico Terol (Althea Racing Ducati).

Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) will start tomorrow’s fourth round of the World Supersport Championship from pole position after a closely fought qualifying session saw him edge current championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) by 0.137s.

The pair will be joined on the front row of the grid by American PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) who will be aiming to make it three times onto the podium in 2015.

For Cluzel it was his third Pole Position of the year and the Frenchman is hoping that the bad luck he has suffered in the last two races is well and truly behind him.

Row two comprises Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team), the Englishman hoping to give the Dutch team something to smile about in their home race.

Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) will start fifth alongside a rejuvenated Christian Gamarino (Go Eleven Kawasaki) who achieved a career best qualifying position in sixth.

Thai winner Ratthapark Wilairot (CORE Motorsport Thailand Honda) suffered another crash during the session, to leaving himself with work to do from 11th on the grid.

Australian Glenn Scott (AARK Racing Honda) will start from 18th at Assen, his best lap 2.558s from the pole-setting pace of Cluzel.

Pole position for the FIM Superstock 1000cc race has been taken by Lorenzo Savadori (Nuova M2 Racing Aprilia) who stormed to the top spot courtesy of the best-ever STK1000 lap of the legendary Dutch track at 1m36.998s.

The remaining two places on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 14-lap race were claimed by Raffaele de Rosa (Althea Racing Ducati) and round one winner Roberto Tamburini (Team MotoxRacing BMW), who left it late to move into contention after a record-breaking session that saw the top-4 swap positions on more than 20 occasions during the 30 minutes.

Row two will see Florian Marino (MRS Yamaha) who fell without injury towards the end of qualifying, Ondrej Jezek (Triple-M by Barni Ducati) and Kev Coghlan (MRS Yamaha). Aussie Bryan Staring rode his Pedercini Kawasaki to ninth on the grid.

The 13-lap, third round of this year’s FIM Europe Superstock 600cc Championship was won after a race long five-rider fight was decided in favour of Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), who maintained his 100 percent winning record.

The youngster, protégé of Kenan Sofuoglu eventually took his third race win of the year (fourth of his career) by 0.680s ahead of Michael Rinaldi (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) and Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing Yamaha) who completed the podium.

Hugo Clere (MG Competition Yamaha) claimed a career best fourth, just missing out on a podium finish, whilst Julian Puffe (MTM – HS Kawasaki) had a lonely final part of the race to finish fifth – his best ever result.

The top six was completed on the final lap by local rider Rob Hartog (MTM – HS Kawasaki) who overhauled Federico Caricasulo (Pata Honda Junior Team) in the closing stages. Lachlan Epis was the final finisher in 31st.

Click here for detailed results