Tom Sykes Takes Superpole #7 of the Season at Brno eni SBK World Championship Round 9

Magnificent 7th Tissot-Superpole for Sykes and Kawasaki

Brno (Czech Republic), July 21, 2012 – A much delayed finish to the Tissot-Superpole session, due to an oil spill and the time required to clean up the track afterwards, saw Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) take pole for the seventh time this season. His winning lap time of 1 minute 58.010 was a new best lap.

The final running of Tissot-Superpole 2 was declared wet and thus the top 12 riders who had made it through to that stage battled it out in a 20-minute session, which ended in dry conditions. Second fastest after the delays was Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) with the front row completed by Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) and Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati). Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) was fifth and Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) sixth.

Tom Sykes: “I’m very happy to take pole again but I’d swop this for 25 points in the championship any day of the week! It’s fair to say that Kawasaki have got the sheer speed in this championship and it’s no secret we still need to work on the balance of the bike for the race, but this is coming and today we made the best of the situation.”

Tom Sykes on the #66 Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R took his 7th Tissot-Superpole of the season at round 9 at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.  Sykes outqualified defending eni SBK World Champion Carlos Checa by almost a half a second.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

Carlos Checa: “For us this is a track that is quite difficult so to be in second place fills me with confidence for tomorrow. The team did a great job, basically we found a really good set-up in Aragon and moving to here, it’s working well again. We’ll try and do our race and see what happens. The championship is still open and we’ll be trying our best until the end.”

Carlos Checa took the #7 Althea Racing Ducati 1098R to the 2nd spot on the grid today behind fast qualifier Tom Sykes at round 9 of the 2012 season at Brno in the Czech Republic for tomorrow's double race round.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

Eugene Laverty: “It’s been a good weekend for us so far, we’ve been on the chart from the first practice session and to be on the front row is the most important thing here. We’ve been working strong for the races tomorrow, we’re not sure about tyre life but it’ll be the same for everyone. Brno is a circuit where I’ve struggled at in the past so this is a good result.”

Championship leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) missed out on qualifying beyond Superpole 1 and will therefore start from 14th place on the grid. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) put in a seventh place performance and alongside him on the second row of the grid will be Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) who took the last place on the second row.

Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia) secured a top nine place, with Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) inside the top ten at his home round, despite a fall in the first attempt at running Superpole 2.

A great privateer ride from team Pedercini Kawasaki rider David Salom put him 11th, although both he and Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) were both involved in the Superpole 2 crash that claimed four riders, damaging their bikes so badly that they could not continue in the ‘wet’ Superpole 2 that decided the final grid places for the top 12 riders.

Carlos Checa, Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty celebrate their 2-1-3 placings during qualifying today in the Tissot-Superpole ceremonies at round 9 of the season at Brno.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

Times: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'58.010 average 164.823 kph; 2. Checa (Ducati) 1'58.470; 3. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'58.741; 4. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'58.789; 5. Melandri (BMW) 1'58.885; 6. Rea (Honda) 1'59.560; 7. Haslam (BMW) 1'59.583; 8. Fabrizio (BMW) 1'59.621; 9. Davies (Aprilia) 1'59.748; 10. Smrz (Ducati) 1'59.871; 11. Salom (Kawasaki) 1'59.279; 12. Badovini (BMW) 1'59.154; 13. Camier (Suzuki) 1'59.439; 14. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'59.453; 15. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'59.627; 16. Hopkins (Suzuki) 1'59.973; etc.

World Supersport

Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Lorenzini) took pole in the Supersport category after an intense session that was too close to call right until the end. Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) was second only 0.002 seconds behind Sofuoglu, with Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step Racing) only 0.080 seconds off the pole. Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) finished his day fourth and 0.162 seconds down on Sofuoglu. The first rider off the second row for tomorrow’s race will be championship challenger Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) in fifth, with the Power Team by Suriano Triumph of Vittorio Iannuzzo in sixth place.

Kenan Sofuoglu took the #54 Kawasaki Lorenzini ZX-6R to the top qualifying spot today for round 9 of the World Supersport Championship.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

Times: 1. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2'03.217 average 157.858 kph; 2. Cluzel (Honda) 2'03.219; 3. Foret (Kawasaki) 2'03.297; 4. Parkes (Honda) 2'03.379; 5. Lowes (Honda) 2'03.481; 6. Iannuzzo (Triumph) 2'04.005; 7. Quarmby (Honda) 2'04.014; 8. Baldolini (Triumph) 2'04.043; etc.

Superstock 1000

Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) took his fourth pole of the 2012 season in holding off a trio of Kawasaki riders at Brno. Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki), Christoffer Bergman (BWG Racing Kawasaki) and Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) completed the front row in readiness for Sunday’s race. Lorenzo Baroni (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) was fifth, ahead of local man Ondrej Jezek (SBK Energy Racing Team Ducati). Title challenger Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Team Italia) was the top 1199 Panigale rider, but in seventh.

Times: 1. Barrier (BMW) 2'03.343 average 157.697 kph; 2. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 2'03.744; 3. Bergman (Kawasaki) 2'03.945; 4. Staring (Kawasaki) 2'04.069; 5. Baroni (BMW) 2'04.100; 6. Jezek (Ducati) 2'04.291; 7. La Marra (Ducati) 2'04.392; 8. Savadori (Ducati) 2'04.688; etc.

Superstock 600 – Race

Michael van der Mark (EAB Ten Kate Junior Honda) scored his third win of the season after a thrilling 11-lap Superstock 600 race at Brno, having overcome the close attention of three other riders. Gauthier Duwelz (MTM Yamaha) finished only 0.125 seconds from van der Mark after battling hard with him for the final few laps. Riccardo Russo (Yamaha Team Italia FMI) went third and another fast qualifier, Alex Schacht (Schacht Racing SBK ONE Honda) worked his way up to finish right behind and just off the podium. In winning the race van Der Mark moved to the top of the championship, by only two points from Russo, 124 to 122. Each of these riders has three wins apiece in 2012. Duwelz is third on 78 points.

Results: 1. Vd Mark (Honda) 11 Laps/59.433 km in 23'25.755 average 152.202 kph; 2. Duwelz (Yamaha) 0.125; 3. Russo (Yamaha) 0.687; 4. Schacht (Honda) 0.900; 5. Cocco (Yamaha) 9.062; 6. Morbidelli (Yamaha) 9.157; 7. Nestorovic (Yamaha) 9.473; 8. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 10.488; etc.

Points (after 6 of 10 rounds): 1. Vd Mark 124; 2. Russo 122; 3. Duwelz 78; 4. Calero Perez 50; 5. Vitali 46; 6. Gamarino 41; 7. Nestorovic 37; 8. Cocco 35; etc.

KTM European Junior Cup

Javier Orellana and Jamie Patterson were the top two in the European Junior Cup qualifying session at Brno, with Orellana just over half a second faster than his rival from Northern Ireland to take the pole position slot. The Spanish youngster, who turns 15 next Friday, is also not entirely fit due to a recent injury. Lukas Wimmer went third, Gaston Garcia fourth, with Tom Busch fifth on the grid.

Times: 1. Orellana (KTM) 2'17.680 average 141.275 kph; 2. Patterson (KTM) 2'18.203; 3. Wimmer (KTM) 2'18.490; 4. Garcia (KTM) 2'18.681; 5. Busch (KTM) 2'19.055; 6. Wielebski (KTM) 2'19.999; 7. Fazzina (KTM) 2'20.005; 8. Pasek (KTM) 2'20.070; etc.

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