Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) grabbed Superpole for round 9 of the WSBK championship with a blistering record lap of 1 minute 58.345 seconds at the newly-resurfaced Automotodrom Brno circuit.
Today's pole was the 22nd of the points leader's career, and his fourth this season, a result that takes him past Carl Fogarty in the all-time pole classification into second behind Troy Corser on 42.
Bayliss's chief rival today in Superpole was in fact Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB), who was just one tenth of a second down. Third quickest was Bayliss's Ducati Xerox team-mate Michel Fabrizio, while fourth went to another Italian Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), quickest overall in qualifying.
Troy Bayliss:
“It hasn't always looked good on this track for us, especially last year, and it's been a bit of a bogey track for me as well. I've never really had great results here in the past and I'd love to turn that around. When I saw Corser's lap I knew I had to do a good one to beat that and when Max was out, I would have given him a real pat on the back if he had gone faster than that.”
Troy Corser:
“There's always a risk when you go out before the end of the Superpole and set the quickest time, especially when Bayliss is around because I know he's going to grit his teeth and try and get there. But we've got a really good set-up for race tyres tomorrow, we've done a pretty good race distance and it's all looking really good.”
Michel Fabrizio:
“I really like this circuit and I've always gone well here. We've done a great job during the weekend and my race pace is pretty good. I wanted to go even better in Superpole but unfortunately there's a ‘granddad' alongside me who always pulls out something special. But third is a good result and I'm really satisfied.”
Max Biaggi:
“I really like the Brno track and love racing here. I think we've learnt a lot this weekend and for today fourth place is OK. I wanted to go faster a little bit but it didn't happen. My team and I have done a good job to get on the front row of the grid, which is good because we're going to have to start well and be up at the front tomorrow.”
The biggest mover today was Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who powered to fifth place and a row 2 start in Superpole after qualifying for the one-lap dash in sixteenth. The Japanese rider will be accompanied by WSBK rookie Niccolò Canepa (Ducati Xerox), Spain's Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki Alstare) and Czech star Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati).
Bayliss's chief rivals in the championship failed to emerge, Max Neukirchner (Alstare Suzuki) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB) both qualifying on the third row, while Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) is even further behind on row 4.
FIM Supersport World Championship
Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport) was again quickest in the second and final WSS qualifying session.
The 26 year-old Australian set a record lap of 2 minutes 3.204 seconds ten minutes from the end to grab his fifth successive Supersport pole. Parkes will be joined on the front row by the surprising Dutch rider Barry Veneman (RES Software Suzuki), who qualified ahead of Australians Joshua Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda) and points leader Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).
The second row is made up of Britain's Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda), ahead of Mark Aitchison (Triumph BE1 Racing) and Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) while Finland's Vesa Kallio (Benjan Racing Honda) scored his best result of the year in eighth. Australian Garry McCoy (Triumph SC) had a nasty crash, suffering a cracked vertebra and a bruised right lung in the process.
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