Tom Sykes rode his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R to a strong fourth in the new style of Superpole qualifying, which means he will begin Sunday’s 22-lap Superbike races from the front of the second row.

Having overcome the effects of injury to his left wrist in recent testing, and losing some test days as a result, Sykes and his team pushed on in the specialised discipline of Superpole, which was virtually Tom’s personal property in 2012.

Tom was in the lead after Superpole 1 and was second in Superpole 2, but with only three riders on each row in 2013 Tom was squeezed to the second row very late in the final Superpole session when another rider took second place on the grid. Tom almost went out on track again on a race tyre, to try and get his front row place back, but he decided not to risk it with so little time left and keep all his energies for the races on Sunday.

Loris Baz finished up 11th on his official Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R but had been all set to progress into Superpole 3 until a sudden drop in grip from his rear qualifying tyre, in the last few corners, prevented him from setting his potential new best. He finished on the fourth row, but with a good overall race pace so far.

Kawasaki Pedercini Team riders Alex Lundh and Federico Sandi were 18th and 20th respectively and with only 15 riders in Superpole in 2013, they missed out on Superpole qualification.


Tom Sykes:

“The new look Superpole rules have not suited us because we could have had a nice front row start. We are on row two but obviously we have done a good job to get so close, so fast, after having been forced to skip two days testing and then riding injured. I learned last year that qualifying is qualifying and racing I another story, so I am a decent spot for tomorrow’s races. It will be two long races, in hot conditions from what I have heard, so let’s see. We have a bit of thinking to do tonight to decide in exactly which direction we will go but I do not feel we are in a bad situation at all. Let us see how tomorrow goes.”

Loris Baz:

“This was one of our best weekends of work in practice and qualifying and it had been going well until the last corners when I had a qualifying tyre in Superpole 2. The second qualifier we had did not work as well as the first one we used and by the time I got to the last corners it had given its best, so I could not improve my time to go into the final part of Superpole. We are good for the race I think, we have done a lot of work and think we are in good shape for the race, which is the main thing. My best lap in Superpole 2 was actually done on a race tyre so I am happy about that.”

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