2019 Aragon World Superbike Superpole Result: A Cold Wind And A Wasted Tyre

Submitted by Jared Earle on Sat, 2019-04-06 09:39

The conditions for World Superbike Superpole carried on from the morning's free practice, with a temperature of 14ºC carried by a harsh wind.

After one lap, Alvaro Bautista was ahead of Jonathan Rea and Eugene Laverty, still carrying a two tenths advantage in the last sector. After Bautista set the first 1'49 of the session, Laverty and Tom Sykes joined him first. Sykes, the arch-qualifier, has a 15kmh deficit down the back straight and is the quickest rider on the track until he hits the long back straight.

With fourteen minutes remaining, riders started to pit in and fit the qualifying tyre. Jonathan Rea headed out with just over ten minutes left having not fitted his allocated qualifying tyre. With an empty track, he was quickest at the third split, and dropped back into the pits.

Eugene Laverty was the first out on a qualifying tyre, and he propelled himself to second place. His second lap on the qualifying tyre was quickest in the first three sectors, but he lost out down the straight, 8kmh slower on the GoEleven Ducati than Bautista on the factory Panigale. Marco Melandri crashed out before he was able to set a lap time, crashing out on a cold tyre at turn two.

Alvaro Bautista slapped down a 1'49.049, using the qualifying tyre to slice two thirds of a second off his time. Sandro Cortese and Tom Sykes, in spite of missing the apex on the last turn, rounded out the front row as the top nine riders all set 1'49 laps. Jonathan Rea was tenth quickest.

Alex Lowes headed the Ducatis of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Eugene Laverty ahead of Markus Reiterberger, Chaz Davies and the quickest Kawasaki, Jordi Torres.

Results:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap	Speed
1	19	A. BAUTISTA	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1'49.049		319,5
2	11	S. CORTESE	Yamaha YZF R1	1'49.414	0.365	308,6
3	66	T. SYKES	BMW S1000 RR	1'49.557	0.508	305,9
4	22	A. LOWES	Yamaha YZF R1	1'49.563	0.514	314,0
5	21	M. RINALDI	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1'49.689	0.640	315,8
6	50	E. LAVERTY	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1'49.722	0.673	312,1
7	28	M. REITERBERGER	BMW S1000 RR	1'49.779	0.730	307,7
8	7	C. DAVIES	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1'49.970	0.921	318,6
9	81	J. TORRES	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'49.984	0.935	307,7
10	1	J. REA	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'50.013	0.964	310,3
11	60	M. VAN DER MARK	Yamaha YZF R1	1'50.264	1.215	314,9
12	91	L. HASLAM	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'50.383	1.334	314,9
13	33	M. MELANDRI	Yamaha YZF R1	1'50.560	1.511	309,5
14	2	L. CAMIER	Honda CBR1000RR	1'50.812	1.763	307,7
15	36	L. MERCADO	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'50.822	1.773	305,9
16	54	T. RAZGATLIOGLU	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1'50.985	1.936	312,1
17	23	R. KIYONARI	Honda CBR1000RR	1'52.716	3.667	309,5
18	52	A. DELBIANCO	Honda CBR1000RR	1'52.769	3.720	295,9