It is not uncommon for local, Japanese riders to dominate WSB qualifying at Sugo, and it happened again this year. Throughout regular qualifying and SuperPole, Makoto Tamada (Honda) set a blistering pace that no one could come close to. Tamada took Pole, with fellow Japanese rider Hitoyasu Izutsu (Kawasaki) second. You may recall that Izutsu won both legs of the Sugo WSB round last year.
WSB regulars Troy Corser (Aprilia) and Ben Bostrom (Ducati) will fill out the front row of the grid.
Interestingly, WSB points leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was not quick enough to make the top sixteen following regular qualifying, and he was therefore excluded from SuperPole. This is directly due to the number of local Japanese riders who were quick during qualifying.
SuperPole – Final Results (Top 10)
1. Makato Tamada (Honda) 1:28.797 2. Hitoyasu Izutsu (Kawasaki) 1:29.203 3. Troy Corser (Aprilia) 1:29.417 4. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 1:29.510 5. Shinichi Ito (Honda) 1:29.548 6. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 1:29.634 7. Akira Yanagawa (Kawasaki) 1:29.755 8. Colin Edwards (Honda) 1:29.803 9. Tamaki Serizawa (Kawasaki) 1:29.880 10. Akira Ryo (Suzuki) 1:30.020
