Kawasaki Racing Team competitor Tom Sykes took his official Ninja ZX-10R machine to his sixth consecutive Superpole win today, setting a new track best lap of 1’45.981 seconds in Superpole 3.

Sykes was unstoppable even after he was forced to try for the pole time not once but twice in Superpole 3, when his team-mate Loris Baz fell at high speed and his machine blocked the track. Sykes had his first class-leading lap time deleted as he crossed the finish line, just after the red flags had come out, and he had to do it all again with no spare qualifying tyre left in his allocation.

After a conference with his team, and advice from his crew to use a fresh race tyre and not a used Qualifier from an earlier Superpole session, Sykes fitted a race option and took to the track once more. He then went on to set the fastest ever lap of the Imola circuit, without even having the extra grip that a qualifying tyre provides. He is now the only rider who has gone under the 1’46 second mark at this classic Italian venue.

Sykes has 17 career pole positions to his name and is now the fourth most successful rider of all time in qualifying, sharing this spot with SBK legend Doug Polen.

Loris Baz (KRT) was unable to finish Superpole 3 after a fast crash on the approach to the first Rivazza corner. His bike eventually blocked the track causing a red flag stopped with just under six minutes of the final Superpole session remaining. He was unable to restart because of the single bike rule and thus qualified ninth on the grid, on the third row for tomorrow’s 21-lap races.

Federico Sandi (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) will be 16th on the grid on Sunday but his team-mate Alex Lundh (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) will not race despite qualifying 19th, after a heavy fall in practice that injured his finger, hand and caused heavy bruising to his back.

In the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) posted the fourth fastest lap of the combined qualifying session, with Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) seventh and Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) eighth.


Tom Sykes:

“That Superpole win was down to a good call by my crew chief Marcel who said, after the red flag incident, we should use a fresh race tyre rather than the used qualifier I had wanted to go out on again. So my best lap was done on a race tyre and I wanted to try my best and put in a big push for the great fans here and I got it a bit sideways a few times. To be honest, for me it was not the pole position that meant that much. To me it was to get on the front row first of all and also because I was motivated because I had to finally use a race tyre. When I produced that kind of fast lap time I was excited. Doing that Superpole session on a race tyre has also given us good information for the races tomorrow. I am looking to put in strong results after my stupid mistake in Portimao and two strong finishes would put that memory to bed.”

Loris Baz:

“It seems it has been really tough but I am happier than the results show so far. We lost some time in practice with a small technical problem and then a crash in another practice session, so we lost nearly all of Friday, but we still had the speed to be near the front. In Superpole I did a good time in the first one but I had no feeling with the qualifying tyre in the second and had to use both of them. I started Superpole three on a soft race tyre and went out behind Tom, who had a qualifier on his bike at that time. I was doing a really good lap but I lost the front on the fast downhill corner. My team thinks maybe I was doing 260-270kmph so it was maybe the biggest crash I ever had. I am not happy to fall in Superpole but I am happy because I am on my feet here, ready to race and I still have a good feeling after the tests in Aragon. I am starting of the third row but I will try to make a good start and be with the guys at the front. In the crash I had a footpeg digging into my leg, and I lost a bit of skin from my left thumb, but I am OK otherwise.”

.