2013 Moscow World Superbike Superpole Results: Water-Resistant Tissot Not Required

After much speculation with the weather, Superpole was declared a dry session, even though clouds were looming overhead. The top fifteen compete over three sessions with only two qualifying tyres allocated to each rider, with riders eliminated at each stage.

Jonathan Rea was first out in Superpole one, as we’ve come to expect, but Davide Giugliano set the fastest time of the first batch of riders, until the last rider to set a lap, Tom Sykes, took the top spot from him with a 1’35.400 time. Sykes then did a second lap of 1’34.863, ensuring nobody would even get close. Carlos Checa was sitting in thirteenth place, just outside the cutoff point for the second session, but he was able to secure his continued qualifying with the third fastest time. Sylvain Guintoli, still nursing a dislocated collarbone, was ninth fastest. Leon Haslam, Ayrton Badovini and Michel Fabrizio who crashed before getting a qualifying lap in.

Tom Sykes wasted no time in setting a 1’34.546 time as riders started putting the qualifying tyres on. Several riders, including Davide Giugliano and Jonathan Rea, were able to record laps that were faster than Sykes’s Superpole one time, but only Chaz Davies and Carlos Checa were able to get within three quarters of a second of his Superpole two lap.

The third Superpole session was delayed for technical reasons, as opposed to safety, with the timing system not working. Tom Sykes made a rare error and crashed his bike, losing the front and the chance for pole position. Carlos Checa was on track for a pole position, but we got to see the weakness of the Ducati as it was fastest through most of the track until it arrived at the long straight, losing four tenths of a second to the four cylinder bikes. As everyone realised they had the rare opportunity to snatch a pole position from Tom Sykes. Davide Giugliano, fast all weekend, was the man to break Sykes’s streak of six successive pole positions. Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty filled the remainder of the front row, ahead of Jonathan Rea, Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa.

Tom Sykes would have to settle for ninth place, behind Jules Cluzel and the injured Sylvan Guintoli, while Davide Giugliano showed that he didn’t need a factory bike to grab pole position.

Results: