Reigning FIM Superbike World Champion Tom Sykes got to within 0.106 seconds of pole position at Sepang, finishing second in Superpole 2 and earning himself a start from the front row of the grid for Sunday’s races. Loris Baz was unhurt in a late session fall in Superpole 2 but is still starting off the second row, in sixth place. KRT SBK Evo rider David Salom was fastest Evo qualifier of all.

Sykes used his Ninja ZX-10R to good effect in Superpole 2 on a qualifying tyre but was not quite able to take his 21st pole position. With no points available for qualifying the series leader understands that the real job starts tomorrow, as he goes for more wins to add to his 2014 season tally of four so far.

With no SBK race held at Sepang before, Sykes had to work hard in qualifying to unlock the secrets of the Sepang circuit on his latest version Ninja ZX-10R, having tested at the Malaysian track some years ago. Now his final raceday set-up depends on the weather and track conditions at a circuit which always delivers heat and humidity at high levels.

Baz was fully 0.6 seconds under the best Superpole 2 lap time until he fell at the final corner of his last lap. In starting off the second row he still has a good opportunity to make the most of what he feels is a strong race pace. His performances so far, at a circuit he had never ridden at before until Friday, have been very impressive as he had learned the layout step-by-step.

On the Evo spec KRT Ninja ZX-10R David Salom had his first ever Evo class pole position, and he was the only Evo rider to progress from Superpole 1 to Superpole 2. He starts from 12th on the grid, off the fourth row, but in the best possible place to try and dictate pace in the Evo class race-within-a-race.

The two SBK races will held over 16 laps on Sunday 8th June, with the first off at 13.30 local time in Malaysia and the second race taking place at 16.30.

Tom Sykes:

“We have been quite consistent all weekend and on race tyres we are there or thereabouts. I feel we have learned something in the Superpole laps so we will hopefully put that to good use tomorrow. We were not too far away from our competitors and the times have been close, but we will try to work even more to improve the race set-up. I have seen how fast some other riders are on new tyres but everyone will take a drop on raceday as the race unfolds. Exactly how much of a drop, no one will see that true potential until tomorrow. I am hoping that we can be in quite a good position tomorrow for race distance and we just need to improve the general feel to utilise the bike a bit better in some corners. I hope we can make any small changes count.”

Loris Baz:

“All of my final lap I felt like I could brake later and later because the rear grip from the qualifying tyre gave me a lot of extra grip on corner entry. On the last corner I braked just a little bit too late because I had been faster on the straight and I fell. It was a little mistake but I am happy because we improved in all the sessions and we could have been on pole because of the progress we had made. I think we can make something good tomorrow, our race pace is good but we will see how the tyres are after ten laps. I am confident but we have to make a good start to get away with the front guys.”

David Salom:

“We took the Evo class Superpole win for the first time so that cannot be bad. This morning I put a different front tyre in but it was not possible to use it in the hot conditions so I went back to my original choice. I made a good lap in Superpole 1 on my own, not with any other riders. When I saw the time I was not really sure that I would be able to make it in to Superpole 2 but I did. I could not improve in Superpole 2 as I could not go any faster than in Superpole 1. I knew it was not possible to go faster than the full Superbikes anyway, so I am happy to start from where I am on the grid.”

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