Sykes on Phillip Island pole position
Briton Tom Sykes has set the best ever world superbike lap at Phillip Island en route to pole position for the season-opening round at the Victorian circuitSykes' 31st WorldSBK pole position came with a sensational lap of 1m30.020 in the 15-minute Superpole shootout, breaking the previous best lap of 1:30.038 set by Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli in 2014.
Italian Davide Giugliano (Ducati, 1:30.098) and world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki, 1:30.170) will join Sykes on the front row of the grid for this weekend's two 22-lap races, starting with the opener at 3:00pm this afternoon.
Row two will be filled out by Yamaha teammates Guintoli and Lowes and Michael van der Mark (Honda), while former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden (Honda) will make his WorldSBK debut by leading away the third row from Italian Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) and world No. 2 Chaz Davies (Ducati).
Next up is Leon Camier (MV Agusta), rookie Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad) and Spaniard Jordi Torres (BMW Motorrad), with the top 12 separated by just 1.187 seconds.
Aussie pair Josh Brookes (BMW Motorrad) and Mike Jones (Ducati) will start from 14th (row five) and 21st (row seven) positions respectively in the two WorldSBK races.
World Superbike - Free Practices + Superpole Combined Results
Australian Round, 26-27-28 February 2016 102/01
No. Rider Nat Team Bike FP 1 FP 2 Laps Superpole Gap Time Avg
1 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'30.020
2 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale 1'30.098
3 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'30.170
4 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 1'30.281
5 22 A. LOWES GBR Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 1'30.354
14 Josh Brookes (Australia ) BMW 1m 31.927
21 Mike Jones (Australia) Ducati 1m33.722
WORLD SUPERSPORT
Tireless Turk Kenan Sofuoglu will start tomorrow's 2016 Supersport World Championship opening round at Phillip Island from pole position after dominating today's Superpole qualifying shootout on his Kawasaki.
The reigning four-time world champion wrestled the ZX-6R around the 4.448km circuit in a best lap of 1m33.142secs, setting the time on his last flying lap in the 15-minute session.
American Patrick Jacobsen (Honda, 1:31.644) and Swiss rookie Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki, 1:33.664) will complete the front row for the 18-lap race, to be run at 1:30pm tomorrow.
Krummenacher has joined WorldSSP from Moto2, and his teammate is Sofuoglu — forming a potent combination from Kawasaki in the same vein as Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes in WorldSBK.
Meanwhile, Italian Federico Caricasulo (Honda) was the biggest improver in Superpole, finishing up fourth overall — a whopping 11 spots better than his effort in yesterday's two 'timed' practice sessions.
Caricasulo will have MV Agusta pair Lorenzo Zanetti and Alex Baldolini beside him on the second row of the grid, while two-time Phalli Island WorldSSP winner Jukes Cluzel (MV Agusta) will start from eighth after a crash at turn 11 in Superpole to sit alongside his spill at turn 12 yesterday.
Anthony West (Yamaha) will be the first Aussie on the grid in 15th position, three ahead of Aiden Wagner (MV Agusta). Then it's Glenn Scott (Honda) in 20th, Alex Phillis (Honda) in 23rd, Mitch Levy (Yamaha) in 24th, Kane Burns (Suzuki) in 25th, and 16-year-old Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) in 27th.
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