WSBK: Sykes Strikes Again

Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes is now three-for-three in Superpole during the '12 World Superbike season.

Media Release | Posted April 21, 2012 Assen (NED)

Kawasaki Racing Team's Tom Sykes (Photo: Infront Motor Sports)

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 3 of the Superbike World Championship from Assen, Netherlands will air back-to-back on SPEED Sunday, April 22 starting at 5:00pm ET.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was over a second faster than any of his rivals in a Tissot-Superpole contest run under ‘wet’ conditions. The wet Superpole rules dictated that there were two twenty-minute sessions only with the top eight riders only from Superpole 1 moving on to Superpole 2.

Despite being declared wet, the track surface during the second session in particular was almost completely dry, allowing Sykes to get to within less than half-a-second of the track best on his Ninja ZX-10R. This was his third Superpole win in succession this season, and Sykes’ fifth career Superpole win. Second fastest overall was the Honda of Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) from Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing – Team Effenbert) and Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert – Liberty Ducati).

Tom Sykes: “A lot has gone on since the Imola test with Joan and so on, so hopefully this is making him smile. What can I say? A massive thanks to Kawasaki, three on the bounce is a fantastic feeling. I went out on my second qualifier today, saw I had some pressure from Jonathan so I dug deep and it paid off. We’ve got a good race setting, both wet and dry, third time lucky so hopefully we can covert this one to a race win tomorrow.”

Jonathan Rea: “It’s the first time I’ve been up here this year and I’m pretty happy. That was a massive lap from Tom; we couldn’t match it today. When we put a qualifier on the bike, it transformed the front and I got a lot of chatter, but the good thing is tomorrow is that we use the race tire. A big thanks to all the team for their continued hard work, it’s nice to come back and this result is for them.”

Jakub Smrz: “I am happy for the third place because we had a problem yesterday with the engine, so I only made a few laps in the dry. Today was really strange and conditions were mixed but in the end I got the front row. We did a great job: fast in the rain and fast in the dry!”

World Championship leader Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) was fifth fastest, with the first BMW rider, Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Team Italia Gold Bet) in sixth. Official BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Leon Haslam was seventh and Crescent FIXI Suzuki rider John Hopkins placed eighth, with Hopkins now the last rider on the second row of the grid.

Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport), David Salom (Team Pedercini Kawasaki), Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia) and Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) filled the third row of the grid.

Championship second place rider Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) missed out on Superpole qualification and will start from 17th place on the grid. A fall for Biaggi’s teammate Eugene Laverty ruled him out of progression beyond Superpole one, and he went 14th on the grid, one place behind Canadian rookie Brett McCormick (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert).

Times: 1. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'35.399; 2. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'36.432; 3. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'36.566; 4. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'36.875; 5. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'37.156; 6. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'37.311; 7. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1'37.592; 8. Hopkins J. (USA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'37.913; 9. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'40.516; 10. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'40.523; 11. Davies C. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'40.627; 12. Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'40.681; 13. McCormick B. (CAN) Ducati 1098R 1'41.962; 14. Laverty E. (IRL) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'43.947; 15. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'44.022; 16. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'44.500; 17. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'40.231; 18. Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'40.859; 19. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'41.161; 20. Mercado L. (ARG) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'41.693; 21. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'41.768; 22. Aitchison M. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'43.144; 23. Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'50.808.

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