Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two third round World Superbike championship races from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole qualifying session at Assen in the Netherlands.

Pole position at the 4.542km circuit was taken by Tom Sykes after a day of changeable weather conditions, which saw the track at one minute completely wet, and then dry.

The second qualifying session this morning was of the wet variety and no rider was able to improve their times. This left Rea’s Honda World Superbike team-mate, Hiroshi Aoyama in 21st place based on yesterday’s dry, then wet, session, eliminating him from Superpole.

This afternoon’s Superpole was declared wet, meaning two 20-minute sessions, the fastest eight riders going through from session one. With the track still damp in patches, Rea went out on intermediate tyres to evaluate conditions and immediately returned to the box demanding slicks.

After setting the fastest time in Superpole 1, the 25-year-old from Northern Ireland, began Superpole 2 on a race tyre, keeping his two allocated qualifying tyres in reserve. When it came to use them, however, they offered no real improvement, but Rea was content with a front row start for tomorrow’s two 21-lap Assen races.

Jonathan Rea – P2 1m36.432s (Superpole 2)

I’m really happy to be back on the front row! All weekend we’ve been fast in all sessions and in all conditions, which have been very changeable, and the guys have got me out to learn the bike each time. I was quite happy with my Superpole 1 – it seemed good, but the bike was transformed with a qualifying tyre in Superpole 2 and I wasn’t able to push as hard because of some chatter from the front. But the good news is that we don’t have to race with a qualifier and we can go tomorrow with a set-up that I think is OK to race. In the wet, I still want to try some more things, but in the dry we’re ready to race, although the tyre decision will be critical again, like in Imola. It’s nice to be near the front though, and it’s a little gift to the guys back at the workshop, who are continuing to work as hard as they can on the bike to make the package better. So this one’s for the guys.


Hiroshi Aoyama – P21 1m41.768s (Qualifying 1)

We some problems finding rear grip today – in the wet session this morning and also in free practice later, when the track started to get dry. We couldn’t find a way to improve things, so the best I can hope for is dry conditions tomorrow so that I can get some more time on the bike. It’s been a difficult two days and starting from that far back is not a good place to be. But we’ll try some things in warm-up tomorrow that we hope will allow me to fight for some positions in the races.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

It’s been a crazy day of changing weather conditions. This morning was full wet and Jonathan managed to fine tune his wet settings for fifth place, which was OK. We couldn’t get a good feeling for Hiroshi and he was unable to match his test times from last week. In the afternoon, free practice ended up dry and Jonathan was still in the top, but with the track conditions and grip levels changing so much, Hiroshi found it very difficult. Jonathan’s result in Superpole was a great achievement, however, and it just shows how much he’s building his confidence this weekend, wet or dry. I think he can be one of the top dogs in tomorrow’s races.

Qualifying position

1 Tom Sykes 1m35.399s (SP2) GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Jonathan Rea +1.033s GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
3 Jakub Smrz +1.167s CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
4 Sylvain Guintoli +1.476s FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
5 Carlos Checa +1.757s SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
6 Michel Fabrizio +1.912s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
7 Leon Haslam +2.193s GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
8 John Hopkins +2.514s USA SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
9 Marco Melandri 1m40.516s (SP1) ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
10 David Salom +0.007s SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
11 Chaz Davies +0.111s GBR APRILIA ParkinGO MTC Racing
12 Leon Camier +0.165s GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
13 Brett McCormick +1.446s CAN DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
14 Eugene Laverty +3.431s IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
15 Maxime Berger +3.506s ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
16 Ayrton Badovini +3.984s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
17 Max Biaggi 1'40.231s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
18 Niccolo Canepa 1'40.859s ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
19 Davide Giugliano 1'41.161s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
20 Leandro Mercado 1'41.693s ARG KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
21 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'41.768s JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
22 Mark Aitchison 1'43.144s AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
23 Lorenzo Zanetti 1'50.808s ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team

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