Today’s World Superbike Superpole at Silverstone was declared wet due to a previous rain shower so the session went to two twenty minute shoot-out format.
With very tricky conditions and standing puddles that caught out several riders between running off track and crashing.
In these difficult conditions it was Effenbert Liberty’s Jakub Smrz who came through with a last flying lap in 2.
20.
810, which was enough to deny by just 0.
036s a highly impressive Leon Camier who shone in SP2, and take his second pole position of the season.
Sylvain Guintoli took the third spot and his former team manager Mario Bertuccio pungently said Liberty Racing didn’t see the back of Guintoli’s helmet today.
Closing out the front row was Leon Haslam.
Althea Ducati’s Davide Giugliano lead most of SP2 (with more than a second advantage) but with three minutes to go he crashed out at the Farm Curve trying to better his lap time and he ended up fifth.
Marco Melandri qualified a comfortable 6th, while Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes both ended up in the gravel trap just minutes from each other.
Sykes spectacularly highsided at the Farm Curve, while Checa was caught out at Woodcote just a few minutes later.
Checa ended up 7th on the starting grid, while Sykes closed out the second row.
Loris Baz was leading SP1 when he crashed out with eight minutes to go, destroying his Kawasaki and unable to rejoin he was pushed back to 9th.
On the third row he’ll find three veteran riders like Jonathan Rea and Max Biaggi – who almost did a ‘Mamola’ during the second free practice – and John Hopkins who took one of best qualifying results after very hampered season.
Eugene Laverty was hoping to do better than 14th, but all the Aprilia’s seem to be struggling in mixed conditions, because Chaz Davies also ended up very down on the timesheets with a crash in SP1 at the Vale and technical issues.
WSBK Silverstone Superpole Results: 1.
Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 2′20.
810 2.
Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2′20.
846 3.
Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 2′21.
385 4.
Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 2′21.
613 5.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 2′21.
951 6.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 2′21.
960 7.
Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 2′23.
356 8.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2′24.
025 9.
Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2′23.
777 10.
Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 2′23.
889 11.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2′24.
176 12.
John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2′24.
274 13.
Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 2′24.
294 14.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2′25.
260 15.
Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 2′26.
137 16.
Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2′26.
360 17.
Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 2′06.
795 18.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 2′06.
803 19.
Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 2′06.
869 20.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 2′06.
921 21.
David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2′08.
069 22.
David Johnson (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2′09.
762 23.
Norino Brignola (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 2′10.
912 24.
Brett McCormick (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 2′13.
730