Submitted by Jared Earle on
Wet Superpole rules were in place, meaning all 16 qualifying riders were on track at the same time with half being cut at the end of the first of two 20-minute sessions.
Result:
Session one: Leon Camier missed the beginning, being a victim of the single bike rule as he wrote off his Suzuki earlier today. Guintoli, Hopkins, Checa and Haslam all sneaked in fast times after late rain slowed down the early action. Badovini crashed, taking Berger out with him, ending both of their challenges.
The second session was much dryer. Rea and Smrz put in fast early laps, but Sykes took his usual place at the top after 5 minutes. After 10 minutes, everyone put qualifiers on and headed out. Again, the only person capable of beating Sykes's early pole time was Tom Sykes himself with a 1'35.399, knocking over a second off his previous fastest lap.
While Jonathan Rea was able to improve a little, Sykes was still over a second faster and secured his third pole position in a row. No other rider has managed to take pole position ahead of the Kawasaki man this year.
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff |
| 1 | 66 | SYKES T | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'35.399 | |
| 2 | 65 | REA J | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'36.432 | 1.033 |
| 3 | 96 | SMRZ J | Ducati 1098R | 1'36.698 | 1.299 |
| 4 | 50 | GUINTOLI S | Ducati 1098R | 1'37.076 | 1.677 |
| 5 | 7 | CHECA C | Ducati 1098R | 1'37.156 | 1.757 |
| 6 | 84 | FABRIZIO M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'37.311 | 1.912 |
| 7 | 91 | HASLAM L | BMW S1000 RR | 1'37.592 | 2.193 |
| 8 | 21 | HOPKINS J | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'37.913 | 2.514 |
| 9 | 33 | MELANDRI M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'40.516 | 2.438 |
| 10 | 44 | SALOM D | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'40.523 | 2.445 |
| 11 | 19 | DAVIES C | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'40.627 | 2.549 |
| 12 | 2 | CAMIER L | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'40.681 | 2.603 |
| 13 | 68 | MCCORMICK B | Ducati 1098R | 1'41.962 | 3.884 |
| 14 | 58 | LAVERTY E | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'43.947 | 5.869 |
| 15 | 121 | BERGER M | Ducati 1098R | 1'44.022 | 5.944 |
| 16 | 86 | BADOVINI A | BMW S1000 RR | 1'44.500 | 6.422 |
| 17 | 3 | BIAGGI M | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'40.231 | 2.631 |
| 18 | 59 | CANEPA N | Ducati 1098R | 1'40.859 | 3.259 |
| 19 | 34 | GIUGLIANO D | Ducati 1098R | 1'41.161 | 3.561 |
| 20 | 36 | MERCADO L | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'41.693 | 4.093 |
| 21 | 4 | AOYAMA H | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'41.768 | 4.168 |
| 22 | 18 | AITCHISON M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'43.144 | 5.544 |
| NQ | 87 | ZANETTI L | Ducati 1098R | 1'50.808 | 13.208 |
Comments
Biaggi
Man, I can't ever remember Biaggi qualifying this poorly.
Weather …
He got caught out by the weather, unfortunately.
Brett!
Im just happy Brett McCormick is starting to shine, 13th place at assen on his first visit!
Lucky
Let's be honest, though. McCormick lucked into that 13th place. Dodgy conditions meant riders like Biaggi couldn't get into Superpole and the three riders behind him all crashed out before registering good times.
Don't get me wrong, I think he's got potential, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
No excuses
The truth is, Brett earned that position. All riders had the same dodgy conditions to deal with. He made superpole in the same dodgy conditions that Max didn't. I know Max is a superior rider, but on this day Brett out paced him and stayed upright where others couldn't.
Hmm
I used to get that argument back when I raced as an amateur
" the only reason you got on the podium in the rain was because the faster guys crashed "
IMO the track was just as dicey for me as it was for them, I just took advantage of the conditions better. "To finish first, first you must finish " is what a guy told me at the track a long time ago.
Biaggi in such a low position is an anomaly agreed, but the record books show 13th position for a guy who was tending bar during the winter and had no superbike testing and hadnt seen Assen before,
thats impressive no matter how you look at it
Sykes
Sykes a second ahead, holy crap that's impressive! Great work!