A thunderstorm and some rain at the Misano Adriatico Marco Simoncelli circuit, half an hour before the start of the Superpole forced the race direction to declare the session wet, so it was just two twenty minute splits that decided today’s SuperpoleSeveral of the top riders decided to stay in the their pits and wait for the track to start to dry out letting some of the braver riders turn the first wheels on the slippery track and get a feel of the conditions as the skies cleared up and the sun began to shine.
The changing track conditions and a completely wrong timing strategy for some and others unable to use their first qualifying tire properly caught out three high profile riders like Max Biaggi, Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa who were unable to get into the final stint.
Biaggi qualified 10th, Melandri 13th and Checa was a lowly 16th, not a position to start in if you want to try to retain your title and are already lagging in 5th in the standings.
Tom Sykes instead grabbed his fifth Superpole of the 2012 season (out of seven attempts) and another Tissot watch to add to his growing collection.
The Kawasaki rider’s flying lap of 1.
35.
375 left the rest of the seven riders adrift by more than one massive second, until Jonathan Rea managed tip into the 1.
35s by just .
009s and close the gap to 0.
616s and take the second spot on the starting grid.
Ayrton Badovini was the fastest BMW rider as he took his best ever Superpole position by qualifying third with his satellite machine and the next surprise of the session was Althea Racing’s rookie Davide Giugliano closing out the front row.
Opening the second row will be Jakub Smrz on his Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati followed by Leon Haslam on the factory BMW, while Eugene Laverty took the sixth spot for Aprilia.
Sylvain Guintoli ended up eighth after a big front end crash at the Misano 2 turn took him out of the running while he was heading towards second place and he was unable to rejoin the session and better his position.
WSBK Misano Superpole results:1.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′35.
3752.
Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′35.
9913.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′36.
0834.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′36.
1475.
Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1′36.
1836.
Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′36.
2837.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′36.
3658.
Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′36.
5599.
Matteo Baiocco (Barni Racing Team Italia) Ducati 1098R 1′37.
50910.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′37.
68611.
Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′37.
70412.
Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′37.
79613.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′37.
80614.
Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′37.
98515.
Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′38.
07816.
Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′38.
97717.
Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′36.
93418.
John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′37.
16819.
Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1′37.
20220.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′37.
25021.
Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′37.
31222.
David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′37.
68823.
Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′38.
67424.
Federico Sandi (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1′40.
251