Miller Motorsports Park (USA), Sunday 29 May 2011 – Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) put in a 1 minute 58.315 second lap on a drying track to take his fourth Tissot Superpole win of the 2011 season and give himself the best possible starting slot for raceday on Monday.
Only just behind was Jakub Smrz (Effenbert-Liberty Ducati), deposed by Checa with no time left to go faster. Yamaha World Superbike team-mates Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty completed the front row, mastering the damp conditions well when it counted most. This is the first front row start for Melandri in WSBK racing and was particularly welcome after he struggled in some earlier sessions at a track he had never seen before first practice. Laverty has now earned three front row starts in the past three races.
Carlos Checa: “I really like this track, but the bike doesn’t so much! We had some problems that we solved and I hope for tomorrow everything is going to be fine. We’ve been working quite well in the dry, and finally when it was getting dry I was able to get more grip and that’s the main reason I was able to fight for the pole. It’s a nice surprise!”
Jakub Smrz: “Carlos is good today so he deserves pole position. I think we made a really good job today, the bike was better in the wet, there were no problems to be fast. Hopefully it will be the same in the dry and I hope to fight for the best possible position.”
Marco Melandri: “For sure I didn’t expect to be on the front row today. On a good wet we are pretty well set up and also the dry, so I had a bit of luck to have the Superpole with difficult conditions, because I could push a bit more. But for sure it’s going to be tough to make all the race like that with the tyre.”
Eugene Laverty: “It was very difficult with the wet conditions and we had to do a lot of work. But both Marco and I brought the Yamaha up in the wet. I’m confident for tomorrow in both conditions that we’re in good contention for a podium finish.”
The second row is headed by Sylvain Guintoli, Smrz’s team-mate, with the top official BMW rider on show Troy Corser who went sixth. Late faller in Superpole 3, Max Biaggi, was seventh for Aprilia Alitalia and impressive BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike rider Ayrton Badovini was eighth.
Row three is reserved for riders who missed out on Superpole 3, with Aprilia Pata veteran Noriyuki Haga going ninth overall, just ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) who went tenth as the track dried out slowly. Aprilia Alitalia rider Leon Camier was lucky to get back into the fray after a fall early in Superpole 1, but he made it back to the pits to take his second bike into Superpole 2 and then qualify 11th overall. Leon Haslam had a tough day again on his BMW Motorrad Motorsport S1000RR, toppling over in Superpole 2 and being unable to make it further up the order than 12th.
After a surprise exit from Superpole 1 Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) was only 13th on the grid with his team-mate Ruben Xaus only one place behind. Former double champion James Toseland (BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike) battled against his still injured right hand to go 18th on the grid, limiting his laps in the wet conditions after he missed out on the top 16 after final regulation qualifying.
Times: 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’58.315; 2. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’58.390; 3. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’58.609; 4. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1’58.860; 5. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’59.069; 6. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’59.262; 7. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’59.736; 8. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1’59.827; 9. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’00.303; 10. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2’00.477; 11. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’00.643; 12. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 2’01.127; 13. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 2’03.232; 14. Xaus R. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 2’03.382; 15. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2’03.397; 16. Waters J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2’04.156; 17. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’50.195; 18. Toseland J. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’50.306; 19. Aitchison M. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’50.646; 20. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’50.717; 21. Rolfo R. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’51.586.
