Yesterday's Superpole qualifying session at Assen circuit in the Netherlands saw two BMW riders qualify on the second row of the grid for today's two Superbike World Championship races at the Dutch circuit, with BMW Motorrad Goldbet rider Michel Fabrizio qualifying in sixth place, just in front of BMW Motorrad Motorsport's Leon Haslam in seventh.

For the first time in 2012, a 'wet' Superpole was declared, meaning that the usual three-stage eliminator format was replaced by two, 20-minute sessions. The fastest 16 riders from combined qualifying would compete in the first session, while only the top eight would progress to the second session to determine the front two rows of the grid.

The first session at the Dutch racetrack saw 16 of the best Superbike riders in the world challenge for track positions, with little safety margin for error in the damp conditions. Having posted an early provisional front row time, BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet rider Ayrton Badovini was one of the early casualties, crashing out of contention in the opening minutes of the session.

Marco Melandri was another of the BMW riders to encounter difficulties at Assen. Running in a seemingly safe sixth position with just one minute remaining of session one, the Italian was suddenly relegated to ninth spot as several riders left it until the dying seconds to post their fastest lap times. This left it to fellow countryman Michel Fabrizio and Melandri's British team-mate Leon Haslam to fly the flag for BMW Motorrad and the S 1000 RR in the final qualifying session.

With the sun making an appearance for the second 20-minute session, qualifier tyres were called into action up and down pit lane. In the end, it was British rider Tom Sykes who made the most of the conditions, scorching to his third consecutive pole position with a time that was more than a second faster than any other rider. Michel Fabrizio was sixth quickest, just in front of Leon, who will start Sunday's two races from seventh on the grid.

Leon Haslam:

“I felt quite happy with this morning. We were consistently one of the fastest guys out there. In dry conditions this weekend we have issues with the rear of the bike giving me some chatter. This is something we are working on hard, but as the conditions have been changing a lot it has been difficult to have a full session to properly resolve it. Given that, I am actually quite happy to be starting from the second row, but I am disappointed as well because I know that without the difficulty we could have challenged for the front row.”

Marco Melandri:

“For sure I am disappointed with the qualifying result. In the dry we have good pace here but the first Superpole was very difficult. It was raining around the track, but not everywhere at the same time. I saw many riders crashing so even if it had been dry in the last few minutes, I was not confident enough to push. I think I made a mistake but it was definitely better than crashing. Now we will see what is possible on Sunday. It is not easy to pass on this track, but I feel okay for the race.”

Andrea Dosoli (Head of Race Operations):

“After what we had seen, both in the dry and wet sessions, we were obviously looking for some better results from Superpole. On the other hand, the conditions were really extreme, especially in Superpole 1 and overall the results are not too bad, as we qualified for the second and third rows. Although Marco will start from the third row, he is confident that he can have a good race and keep a good pace in both conditions. Leon is still looking for the best settings for this race track and it certainly did not help him that the weather conditions changed so often but we are confident that both riders will be fighting for the top positions.”

Superpole results

1. Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki;
2. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Honda;
3. Jakub Smrz (Cze) Ducati;
6. Michel Fabrizio (ITA) BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet;
7. Leon Haslam (GBR) BMW Motorrad Motorsport;
9. Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW Motorrad Motorsport;
16. Ayrton Badovini (ITA) BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet

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