WSBK – WSBK Europe: Tom Sykes, received 4 out of 5 in Donington –

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WSBK Europe: Tom Sykes, received 4 out of 5 in Donington

WSBK - WSBK Europe: Tom Sykes, received 4 out of 5 in Donington -

Sykes and his n ° 66 Kawasaki have just won their fourth pole of the year, in five races! The English Ninja is ahead of Frenchie Guintoli and Irish Laverty, both on Aprilia. Cluzel and Baz qualify 11 and 12th. After a Friday spoiled by rain and cold, the World Superbike riders took advantage today …

Sykes and his n ° 66 Kawasaki have just won their fourth pole of the year, in five races! The English Ninja is ahead of Frenchie Guintoli and Irish Laverty, both on Aprilia. Cluzel and Baz qualify 11 and 12th.

After a Friday marred by rain and cold, the World Superbike riders today took advantage of much better weather conditions on the English track at Donington Park, and thus brought the lap times down … The best for this little one game is again Tom Sykes !

Haga back, the explosive news !

May the – many – Noriyuki Haga fans not ignite too quickly! The return of the flamboyant n ° 41 is planned on a single event: that of Imola, scheduled for June 30th. The man with 116 Superbike podiums, 43 victories, 58 race lap records, but zero world titles (!) Will drive a second BMW entered by the Grillini Dentalmatic team.

A good publicity stunt for the Italian team in particular, the championship in general … The choice of track is also not innocent: Nitro Nori – expatriate in British SBK last year and without handlebars this season – has always been on the podium in his last six races at Imola. Forza Haga !

The Kawa ‘rider broke his own track record by completing the 4 km course in 1’ 27.378. At the top of all test sessions – except the first one in which only five drivers took part! -, Sykes presents himself as the big favorite for the two races of tomorrow … although he has never won on his land !

Tom is not the only one to covet the 50 points (maximum) of the "European" event! Sylvain Guintoli in particular, will be keen to maintain – consolidate! – his first place in the general classification: as a reminder, Guinters totaled 137 points, Laverty 124, Sykes 119, Melandri 96 and Davies 94.

Our favorite Frenchie – Sylvain lives a few miles from the circuit – is the only other rider to drop below 1 ’28 during the third and final Superpole session (SP3), perfectly equaling Sykes’ 2012 record: 1′ 27.716 !

His teammate, Eugene Laverty, will complete the first row of the starting grid on Sunday. Just like Guintoli, "Youdjine" has never been on Donington’s podium in the Superbike category. On the handlebars of their official Aprilia, the n ° 58 and 50 should certainly compensate for this lack..

On the second line will be installed two other subjects of his Majesty William Charles Elizabeth II: Jonathan Rea (Honda Pata) and Leon Camier (Suzuki Fixi Crescent). If Johnny has already had the opportunity to fight for victory this season – with a 3rd place as the best result – it will be a first for Leon who is gradually finding the right rhythm on his Gex.

Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies, the two members of the BMW Italia Goldbet team, will respectively place their S1000RR at the back of the third row and at the head of the fourth. The two men are known for their thunderous races and will be a close watch tomorrow.

Qualified in 8th position, Davide Giugliano could also create a surprise, provided that his private Aprilia does not betray him, or that he does not betray his Aprilia himself! During the first three races, the transalpine driver had crossed the finish line in only one race in two. In Monza, he conjured the spell. Hope it lasts !

The last of SP3, Niccolo Canepa will be the first Ducati rider on the grid: Francis Batta did a great job of giving the Superstock rider a third machine in this event at Donington Park! Very experienced but little rewarded, will this "guest" driver be able to stay in the Top 10 in the race? ?

Carlos Checa was not unworthy: despite his painful shoulder (read our analysis of Monza), the 2011 world champion held on until SP2! Carlos missed the final Superpole session for less than a hundredth of a second (68 thousandth for the curious) and was only a quarter of a second behind the 4th fastest man in SP2, Davide Giugliano.

The Spaniard therefore qualifies in 10th position ahead of two French drivers: Jules Cluzel and Loris Baz. The first had just passed the course of SP1, setting his best time at the controls of his GSX-R (Suzuki Fixi Crescent) while the checkered flag had been waved for a long time..

Loris Baz may be a little more disappointed, he who appeared in the Top 5 after the second qualifying session earlier this afternoon. Our two hopes will have to avoid bickering too much at the start of the race if they want to take the wheel of the fastest….

Leon Haslam’s 13th place is certainly disappointing but far from being ridiculous: the No. 91 of the Honda Pata team broke his left leg less than a month ago during testing in Assen and has to bite the bullet every time you ride your Fireblade…

Instructor on the Leicester track in his spare time – for Daddy Ron Haslam’s driving school – the English driver took advantage of his extreme knowledge of the layout to turn faster than Alex Badovini on his Panigale (Ducati Alstare) and Michel Fabrizio on his RSV4 (Aprilia Red Devils Roma). Carry on, Leon !

Removed from the Superpole at the end of the second qualifying practice session, Max Neukirchner (Ducati MR Racing), Federico Sandi (Kawasaki Pedercini), Vittorio Iannuzzo (BMW Grillini, read the box and the explosive news!) And Alex Lundh (Kawa ‘Pedercini) will start from the back of the grid.

See you tomorrow to follow, almost live, the two Superbike races at Donington Park, as well as the Supersport race … First departure at noon UK time, 1 p.m. on our side of the Channel !

WSBK 2013 Donington Park Superpole

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