Saturdays superpole was full of surprizes and emotions. The Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli continued his good form, securing the second row of the grid with the fifth fastest time (2’05 .456). Smrz failed to continue his march up the standings, settling for fourth row on the grid (2’05 .400) not managing to qualify for the second session of superpole.
The days real surprise was delivered by John Hopkins, who responded by getting a very extraordinary time of 2’04 .041, which is also the new track record. The 27 year-old American is followed by the Irishman Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike), separated from pole by only 27 milliseconds. Front row Positions the home rider Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia) and also championship leader Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea). Max Biaggi was the victim of a crash at the “Brooklands” at the start of the Superpole 1 and was reduced to eleventh fastest.
Sylvain Guintoli qualified on the second row, with the fifth fastest time giving him a great confidence boost ahead of tomorrow’s race: “It ‘a result that gives me and the whole team a lot of confidence ahead of tomorrows race – During a lackluster superpole qualifying, we found the right pace in the three sessions of the Superpole and we were competitive against our rivals. I feel confident for tomorrows race, the bikes are close in terms of time, and it will be very important to have patience, and knowledge of how to best handle the bike.”
Jakub Smrz finds himself in not such a positive mood, as he only managed for 13th on the grid. Despite the placement, The Effenbert Liberty Racing Czech rider is confident for tomorrow’s race: “After Fridays positive qualifiers, I could not ma the right pace and record a satisfactory time, and therefore failed to qualify for Superpole 2 – Kuba commented, ” I wont give up and im confident that i can improve in tomorrows race.
Full superpole results available here.
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