Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) took his second World Superbike Tissot Superpole win of the year today by posting a lap of 1:58.580 seconds, holding off the push of his fellow Italian Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike).

Third on the grid is championship leader Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati). The top four riders in the championship convened a meeting on the front row when Melandri’s teammate Eugene Laverty went fourth.

“It’s been very tough for track conditions, different from last year, different tyres as well,” Biaggi commented. “It’s very good for us and I’m so happy for this result to get pole in front of all these people.

“Brno is a really great track, lots of long blind corners, a lot of exit space and it’s very wide and I have a much better feeling here than at other tracks, but tomorrow is another story, it’ll be a long, long race and hopefully the tyre will do a good job.”

Home rider Jakub Smrz (Effenbert–Liberty Racing Ducati) will start from fifth position on the grid, one place up on Suzuki Alstare’s Michel Fabrizio.

Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) crashed in Superpole 1 but hurried back to the pits to ride his spare machine and he made it all the way to Superpole 3, and an eventual seventh place ranking.

The last place on row two went to Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) who had to use his two qualifying rear tyres in the first two Superpole sessions, meaning he had no realistic chance of getting onto the front row in the final run.

Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK) heads the third row, from Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert-Liberty Racing) and the ever-improving Mark Aitchison (Pedercini Kawasaki), who was a stunning 11th.

Maxime Berger headed a host of bigger names to take his Supersonic Racing Ducati to 12th on the grid.

Queenslander Chris Vermeulen will start from 20th on the grid after missing Superpole altogether on Saturday.

In World Supersport, Fabien Foret (Ten Kate Honda) took a Honda bike to pole position in Supersport for the second time this year following Sam Lowes’ exploit at Misano Adriatico.

The Frenchman’s time of 2:03.548 seconds came right at the end of the session and it allows the former Brno winner and Supersport champion to launch a major push for the win tomorrow.

Foret was just a fraction ahead of the two Kawasaki Motocard.com riders Broc Parkes and David Salom, who are also looking particularly competitive, while Britain’s Gino Rea also consolidated his weekend progress with an excellent fourth place for the Step Racing Honda team.

Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki) heads up the second row of the grid ahead of Parkalgar Honda’s Lowes, with Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Honda), points leader Chaz Davies (Yamaha ParkinGO) and Roberto Tamburini (Bike Service Yamaha) the next qualifiers.

The other top title contender Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO) was unable to go any higher than 12th, while Mitch Pirotta will start from 33rd on the grid.

Two Ducatis and two BMWs will make up the front row of the starting grid for the Superstock 1000 race. Pole position went to Italian Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Team Ducati), who was just a fraction ahead of points leader Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati).

Top Aussie in Superstock 1000 was Beau Beaton in 12th, while ASBK champion Bryan Staring struggled to 18th on the grid.

Dino Lombardi (Martini Corse Yamaha) led throughout the entire 10-lap race by a large margin, while Jed Metcher (MTM-RT Motorsports Team Yamaha) retired after a trip into the gravel.

Fellow Australian Adrian Nestorovic was 11th, while debutant Matt Davies crossed the line 19th.

2011 Superbike World Championship
Round Eight – Brno, Czech Republic

Superbike Superpole:
1. Max BIAGGI, 1:58.580
2. Marco MELANDRI, 1:58.801
3. Carlos CHECA, 1:58.908
4. Eugene LAVERTY, 1:59.055
5. Jakub SMRZ, 1:59.541
6. Michel FABRIZIO, 1:59.908
7. Leon CAMIER, 1:59.925
8. Tom SYKES, 2:00.303
9. Ayrton BADOVINI, 1:59.684
10. Sylvain GUINTOLI, 1:59.800
11. Mark AITCHISON, 2:00.362
12. Maxime BERGER, 2:01.011
13. Leon HASLAM, 2:00.252
14. Noriyuki HAGA, 2:00.374
15. Lorenzo LANZI, 2:00.619
16. Matteo BAIOCCO, 2:00.864
17. Ruben XAUS, 2:00.681
18. Roberto ROLFO, 2:00.710
19. Joan LASCORZ, 2:00.980
20. Chris VERMEULEN, 2:01.447