Submitted by Jared Earle on
Superpole was dry at Portimao, even though rain has been slated as a possibility for tomorrow.
Eugene Laverty put in a 1'42.659 early on in Superpole one and was joined by his team mate Max Biaggi, before the pair of them returned to their garage, confident they would qualify for the second session. Then, Tom Sykes crossed the finish line, skipping the bike over the crest of the straight spectacularly on the rear wheel, to take the top place. Chaz Davies spent one of his qualifying tyres, as he couldn't make it to the second session on regular rubber, and stole the top spot from Sykes.
In Superpole Two, most riders set out on qualifiers as soon as the gate was opened. Marco Melandri tucked in behind Max Biaggi, tying their qualifying fates together. Checa set the fastest time, until Sykes took it off him with a 1'41.691, beating Jonathan Rea's pole position time from last year.
The final session had a feeling of inevitability about it when Tom Sykes put in a 1'41.415, sliding the Kawasaki out of the final corner spectacularly. Carlos Checa and Eugene Laverty were the only other men able to get a lap under 1'42.
For the title fight, Marco Melandri made the front row, but Max Biaggi had to settle for fifth place. Tom Sykes claimed his eighth pole position.
Results after Superpole Two:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff |
| 1 | 66 | SYKES T | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'41.415 | |
| 2 | 7 | CHECA C | Ducati 1098R | 1'41.780 | 0.365 |
| 3 | 58 | LAVERTY E | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'41.789 | 0.374 |
| 4 | 33 | MELANDRI M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'42.015 | 0.600 |
| 5 | 3 | BIAGGI M | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'42.140 | 0.725 |
| 6 | 91 | HASLAM L | BMW S1000 RR | 1'42.271 | 0.856 |
| 7 | 65 | REA J | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'42.717 | 1.302 |
| 8 | 19 | DAVIES C | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'43.459 | 2.044 |
| Do not qualify for Superpole Three: | |||||
| 9 | 2 | CAMIER L | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'42.767 | 1.076 |
| 10 | 34 | GIUGLIANO D | Ducati 1098R | 1'42.799 | 1.108 |
| 11 | 50 | GUINTOLI S | Ducati 1098R | 1'42.995 | 1.304 |
| 12 | 76 | BAZ L | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'43.199 | 1.508 |
| Do not qualify for Superpole Two: | |||||
| 13 | 68 | MCCORMICK B | Ducati 1098R | 1'43.410 | 0.894 |
| 14 | 86 | BADOVINI A | BMW S1000 RR | 1'43.483 | 0.967 |
| 15 | 84 | FABRIZIO M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'43.863 | 1.347 |
| 16 | 44 | SALOM D | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'44.479 | 1.963 |
| Do not qualify for Superpole: | |||||
| 17 | 4 | AOYAMA H | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'44.569 | 1.769 |
| 18 | 87 | ZANETTI L | Ducati 1098R | 1'44.790 | 1.990 |
| 19 | 21 | HOPKINS J | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'44.865 | 2.065 |
| 20 | 5 | LUNDH A | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'45.158 | 2.358 |
| 21 | 57 | LANZI L | Ducati 1098R | 1'45.682 | 2.882 |
| 22 | 151 | BAIOCCO M | Ducati 1098R | 1'46.344 | 3.544 |
| 23 | 64 | BRIGNOLA N | BMW S1000 RR | 1'46.891 | 4.091 |
Comments
ridiculous
PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Superbike World Championship doubleheader from Portimao, Portugal will air back-to-back on SPEED on September 25 at 12:00pm ET.
from: http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/wsbk-portimao-qp-ticker1/
What kind of morons are running the show there? Absolutely absurb, a 2 day delay at the penultimate round of such a close season.
Sorry
Sorry you have to wait so long. I hope our reports will tide you over until you get to see what happened after the results have been spoiled thoroughly on Twitter and the web. :(
They only care about ratings
They only care about ratings and would rather show their craptastic original programming than show actual racing. While they have picked up a bit more with their speed2 online it is still not what I hoped it was. There are ways to watch the EU feeds if you are technically savvy with using proxies etc. I suggest you look into it.
Speed Channel morons Pt2
Two years ago I abandoned Speed for a subscription to MotoGP. The best viewing decision I ever made. I abandoned AMA races on Speed long ago. If I could find a way to hook up to SBK via the web I would ditch my cable all together. If you know a way to do that in the states, point me in a direction to discover the protocol. Speed has no business owning any rights to any type of motorcycle racing. Morons.
Viewing
I've been looking for places to watch SBK. Speed absolutely sucks! I've watched a few of the dealted GP races on Speed just for the eff of it even though I have a motogp subscription. That blows too. Why doesn't SBK show their races online like GP does?
My method
Get yourself a subscription at:
http://www.your-freedom.net/
Rather than going for a monthly subscription, go for a voucher carnet package, then you only pay for what you use.
Use that to hook yourself up through a UK proxy, then you will be able to buy a subscription at:
http://www.eurosportplayer.co.uk/
The Your Freedom client is straight forward to use, and the instructions are clear.
Thanks!
Good tip. Much appreciated.
Could be some good racing
I'd love to see Sykes win, but I'm really glad to see Biaggi and Melandri about a tenth of a second apart. That could make for some good racing!