News 24 May 2015

Sykes secures Donington WorldSBK Superpole

Sofuoglu continues World Supersport class domination.

Source: WorldSBK.

Source: WorldSBK.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) will start tomorrow’s two UK Round, 23-lap races from pole position after taking today’s Tissot-Superpole in an enthralling 15 minute shoot-out that eventually saw the top seven riders covered by 0.940s.

For Sykes it was his 26th WorldSBK pole position – the third at Donington Park and the second of the season – clinched courtesy of a 1m27.071s lap time, which bettered his own previous outright circuit best lap dating back to 2013.

The Briton also matched Troy Bayliss as the second all-time pole position winner in the series, both behind Troy Corser’s 43.

Sykes’ teammate and current championship leader Jonathan Rea will start from the middle of row 1, with Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) lining up alongside him to complete the top-3 riders on the grid.

Row two comprises Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team), while Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished seventh ahead of Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing Ducati) and Pata Honda’s Sylvain Guintoli.

David Salom (Team Pedercini Kawasaki), Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) qualified 10th, 11th, and 12th respectively.

Guintoli and Salom were the two riders who made it through Superpole 1 to join the already-seeded ten riders into the second session.

Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) narrowly missed out on Superpole 2 as he was only half a tenth shy of fellow Spaniard David Salom’s time. The former Moto2 rider will start tomorrow’s races from the 13th spot on the grid.

Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) continued his dominance at Donington Park this weekend in the sole qualifying session ahead of tomorrow’s 20 lap World Supersport race.

The Turkish rider bettered his own outright circuit best lap that he set earlier in the weekend to post the fastest ever WSS lap of the Donington circuit, lapping in a time of 1m29.925s.

Alongside Sofuoglu on the grid will be impressive 17-year-old British wildcard rider Kyle Ryde (Pacedayz European Trackdays), who grabbed a front row start on his World Supersport debut, much to the delight of the British fans watching around the track.

Completing row one tomorrow will be Frenchman Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who moved into third before falling at Redgate the following lap.

Bets of the Australians was Aiden Wagner in 19th on his Kawasaki, while Glenn Scott was 21st despite a fall during the session.

The the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup Bryan Staring will start out from 10th, that session topped by Roberto Tamburini.

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