WSBK: Superpole Qualifying at Imola Starts a Trend

After a month-long hiatus from the Phillip Island season-opener (Race 1 & Race 2), World Superbike action is back again this weekend and taking place in Imola, Italy. Though Max Biaggi leads the Championship with 45 points (ahead of Marco Melandri who has 30 points), much of the talk in the past month has been about the surprise resurgence of Kawasaki, with factory rider Tom Sykes taking a podium finish in Race 2 and showing potential to run against the likes of The Emperor, Carlos Checa, and Marco Melandri.

Now with Sykes third in the Championship going into Imola, the season that seemed preordained to be really between only two riders (Biaggi & Checa), has shown itself to be full of surprises. Continue reading for spoilers and results from the World Superbike Superpole qualifying event at Imola.

Once is a fluke, twice is a trend, and three times is a pattern…that’s how the saying goes at least, and Tom Sykes has got himself a nice trend going in WSBK qualifying thus far, as well as a best lap record at Imola. Taking the pole position after tragedy forced the cancellation of Superpole at Phillip Island, Skyes and the factory Kawasaki team proved that their front position and podium finish were not flukes at the Australian round. Taking the top time in today’s Superpole qualifying event, Sykes put a comfortable half-second of margin between him and Sylvain Guintoli, with Carlos Checa and Leon Haslam rounding out the top three.

“To get two Tissot-Superpole wins on the roll is fantastic. I dug deep after the second Superpole because I knew the times would be fast,” said Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes. “On my fastest lap in Superpole 3 I had a lot of feedback from my Kawasaki. A couple of times I arrived past the limit, but the feel was good so I could finish with a good lap. A few of us have very consistent race pace so there will be a big fight over full race distance.”

Superpole Results from World Superbike at Imola, Italy:

Source: WSBK