Source: Supplied.

Kawasaki factory riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes have produced stunning laps to seize the top two grid positions for this afternoon’s season-opening race in the 2017 Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) at Phillip Island.

Reigning world champion Rea snatched the top spot seconds before session-end, delivering pole position on debut with Kawasaki’s latest ZX-10RR.

The 15-minute Superpole qualifying session was electric, with Sykes seemingly on track to secure his second successive pole position at Phillip Island before Rea posted a 1m29.573s and upstaged his teammate to snare the number one spot on the grid.

Ducati pair Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies were also in the 1m29s, while Yamaha’s Alex Lowes were next in line, with the top five riders all eclipsing the previous best lap around Phillip Island set by Sykes in 2016.

Melandri will sit alongside Rea and Sykes on the front row for race one at 3:00pm, with Davies, Lowes and Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) on the second row.

Jordi Torres (BMW), Xavi Fores (Ducati) and Leon Camier (MV Agusta) are next line, and then it’s Michael van der Mark (Yamaha), Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Markus Reiterberger (BMW) on row four.

Fores crashed in Superpole, as did Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) who will start race one from 14th on the grid. Laverty and Rea are the only Phillip Island WorldSBK race winners in this weekend’s field.

New South Welshman Josh Brookes will start from 16th on the grid aboard his privately-entered ER Motorsports Yamaha with a 1m31.859s lap-time this afternoon.

In World Supersport PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta) secured the pole position for tomorrow’s season-opener, reduced to 15 laps, ahead of Jules Cluzel (Honda) and Federico Caricasulo (Yamaha).

Kyle Ryde (Kawasaki) impressed for fourth, with Yamaha’s Lucas Mahias completing the top five. Australians Anthony West (Yamaha), Aiden Wagner (Honda) and Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) will start in formation between positions 20-22.