Marco Melandri has bagged his first ever Superpole this afternoon at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain and stopping the reign of Carlos Checa as this year’s best polesitter in the dry.
The Yamaha rider blazed to the top of the chart on SP3 with a best lap of 1.
57.
634, helped by keeping Max Biaggi closely in his sights and after being nearly eliminated from SP1.
Sitting on the front row with Melandri will be Aprilia Alitalia’s Max Biaggi who was less than two tenths adrift and Leon Camier in third, but more than 0.
645 off pace.
Carlos Checa will be in taking off in fourth after having botched up his last flying lap.
Kawasaki can be proud today because they placed two riders in the top eight, Tom Sykes took fifth and probably could have had even a front row start if he hadn’t met a certain Biaggi who just cruising around.
Eugene Laverty took sixth followed by Joan Lascorz and Ayrton Badovini in eighth, while the factory BMW team could only qualify 14th with Leon Haslam and 16th with Troy Corser.
The third row will see Noriyuki Haga in ninth unable to use the qualifying tires to their best while Effenbert Liberty’s Sylvain Guintoli took tenth followed by Michel Fabrizio and Pedercini’s Mark Aitchison in 12th.
WSBK Aragon starting grid:01- Marco Melandri – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R102- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory03- Leon Camier – Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory04- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 119805- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R06- Eugene Laverty – Yamaha World Superbike Team – Yamaha YZF R107- Joan Lascorz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R08- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR09- Noriyuki Haga – Pata Racing Team Aprilia – Aprilia RSV4 Factory10- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 119811- Michel Fabrizio – Team Suzuki Alstare – Suzuki GSX-R 100012- Mark Aitchison – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R13- Jakub Smrz – Team Effenbert Liberty Racing – Ducati 119814- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR15- Maxime Berger – Supersonic Racing Team – Ducati 119816- Troy Corser – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – Ducati 119817- Ruben Xaus – Castrol Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR18- Chris Vermeulen – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R19- Roberto Rolfo – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R20- Lorenzo Lanzi – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR