Alcaniz (Spain), Saturday 13 April 2013 – World Superbike Round 2 Tissot-Superpole was performed today at MotorLand Aragon under blue skies. After missing the top spot of the grid at Phillip Island Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) went back to his usual Saturday level by scoring the 12th Superpole of his career and set a 1’56.339 new best lap for the Spanish track.

Tom Sykes: “It has been nice to ride without any injuries this weekend as well after my fall in testing at Phillip Island. The most important thing to get today was a start on the front row and it was also good to get my first Tissot-Superpole win of the year for my Spanish-based team. Moreover, my old team-mate Joan Lascorz is doing commentary on Spanish TV so hopefully I can give him something to talk about in the races.”
The English rider saved both qualifying tyres for Superpole 3, a strategy that proved to be perfect. Fellow Brit Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) did the same, but went wide on the last lap and missed his last opportunity to snatch pole position, finishing 3^rd behind Eugene Laverty. The Championship current Leader, who lead both Free Practice 2 and Superpole 1, is still looking forward to his maiden Superbike pole start.

Eugene Laverty: “Our goal is always to qualify on the front row and we managed to do that here at Aragon as well. In the last free practice session we found some good solutions for our race pace. Superpole went according to schedule. Second place is an excellent position to start from. Tomorrow will be difficult because at least four other riders other than myself are quite capable of making a play for the win and there have always been some great battles on this track.”

Chaz Davies: “It was a good step forward, it is my first front row in World Superbike. Qualifying has always been the weakest part of my weekend. I think people underestimate what it takes to learn a superbike and the difference it makes when you come back to a circuit after having the experience of racing here last year. The race pace, as we have seen in free practice, is not too bad although I think we can improve a little bit also by using that data for tomorrow’s work.”

Second works Aprilia rider and co-protagonist at Phillip Island Sylvain Guintoli gets the first slot of the second row for tomorrow’s two races, making some ground after a poor start of the weekend, and will be flanked by Jules Cluzel who – onboard the FIXI Crescent Suzuki GSX-R – had an incredible maiden Superpole of his career.

6^th place for Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), ahead of Italy’s Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet). An unfortunate Tissot-Superpole in front of his home crowd for Carlos Checa, who couldn’t make it to Superpole 3 for a matter of just 0.036 seconds.

Tissot-Superpole times: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’56.339 average 165.365 kph; 2. Laverty (Aprilia) 1’56.638; 3. Davies (BMW) 1’56.845; 4. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’57.486; 5. Cluzel (Suzuki) 1’57.540; 6. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’57.869; 7. Giugliano (Aprilia) 1’57.975; 8. Melandri (BMW) 1’58.268; 9. Rea (Honda) 2’01.613; 10. Checa (Ducati); 11. Haslam (Honda); 12. Neukirchner (Ducati); 13. Badovini (Ducati); 14. Fabrizio (Aprilia); 15. Lundh (Kawasaki).

World Supersport – Sofuoglu clinches the top spot on the grid at Aragon

Three-time and current World Superport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu put himself in the best possible situation for tomorrow’s race at the end of Qualifying 2. The Mahi Racing Team India rider set a competitive 2’01.450 in the final minutes of the session to edge Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) out of pole position. The young Brit, already not 100% fit, had a crash with 35 minutes to go at Turn 15 but was able to get back on track later on in the session.

Mahi Racing Team India almost perfect qualifying is completed by 3^rd place Fabien Foret, who dropped 0.8 seconds off yesterday’s qualifying lap-time to get a well-deserved front row start. South Africa’s Sheridan Morais showed further improvements onboard his PTR Honda Machine and finished 4^th ahead of Scot Kev Coghlan (DMC Lorenzini Kawasaki), rookie Michael van der Mark – who crashed towards the end at Turn 3 – and Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres).

A superb 9^th place for WSS debutant Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki), in what was only his 4^th session in the series, followed by fellow Italian Raffaele De Rosa (Team Lorini Honda), able to get a top-10 finish after the difficult end of the Season Opener at Phillip Island.

Times: 1. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2’01.450 average 158.406 kph; 2. Lowes (Yamaha) 2’01.610; 3. Foret (Kawasaki) 2’02.216; 4. Morais (Honda) 2’02.239; 5. Coghlan (Kawasaki) 2’02.366; 6. Vd Mark (Honda) 2’02.379; 7. Scassa (Kawasaki) 2’02.593; 8. Zanetti (Honda) 2’02.895; 9. Russo (Kawasaki) 2’02.958; 10. De Rosa (Honda) 2’02.981; etc.

 

Superstock 1000

Defending Champion Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team) scored the 9^th pole position of his career today at Alcaniz Motorland Aragon. His lap-time of 2’01.347 was 0.287 seconds faster than former STK1000 champion Niccolò Canepa (Barni Racing Team Ducati), who showed a good synergy with the 1199 Panigale on what is not the best track for the L-Twin machine from Borgo Panigale.

Third place Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini) was the last rider able to lap within the 2’01 bracket and finished ahead of team mates Leandro Mercado and rookie Alessandro Andreozzi. Johannesburg-born Greg Gildenhuys (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) will start his first STK1000 race as full-time rider (second overall) from the 6th grid slot, while 2012 title contenders Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) and Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Ducati) will move off from the 3^rd row, in 7^th and 8^th place respectively.

Times: 1. Barrier (BMW) 2’01.347 average 158.540 kph; 2. Canepa (Ducati) 2’01.634; 3. Savadori (Kawasaki) 2’01.920; 4. Mercado (Kawasaki) 2’02.144; 5. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 2’02.303; 6. Gildenhuys (BMW) 2’02.392; 7. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 2’02.523; 8. La Marra (Ducati) 2’02.544; 9. Lanusse (Kawasaki) 2’02.931; 10. Bergman (Kawasaki) 2’03.137; etc.

Superstock 600 – Race

Close racing was the main factor of STK600 first race of the year at Alcaniz MotorLand Aragon. Pole man Gauthier Duwelz (MTM Racing Yamaha) gets a hard-won victory after a breathtaking 10-lap race on the 5344 m Spanish venue. It’s the maiden win for the 19 year old Belgian, who was able to take advantage of the tough four-way battle behind him, eventually making a small mistake towards the end of the race that allowed his rivals to close the gap down to 1 second.

But the battle for the 2nd place helped once again Duwelz to maintain a small margin up to the finish line. Tony Coveña (Nito Racing Kawasaki) made his final move on Swiss Bastien Chesaux (EAB Ten Kate Junior Racing Honda) during the final lap, down the long straight going into Turn 16, and set at the same time the new Lap Record in 2’05.250.

Robin Mulhauser (MTM-MVR Yamaha) kept his team mate Adrian Nestorovic behind to get a 4th place finish, while Franco Morbidelli (San Carlo Team Italia) lost some ground in the early laps and was not able to stay with the front runners.

Race Results: 1. Duwelz (Yamaha) 10 Laps/53.440 km in 21’04.746 average 152.113 kph; 2. Coveña (Kawasaki) 0.941; 3. Chesaux (Honda) 1.138; 4. Mulhauser (Yamaha) 1.271; 5. Nestorovic (Yamaha) 1.733; 6. Morbidelli (Kawasaki) 5.488; 7. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 12.566; 8. Casalotti (Yamaha) 20.834; 9. Schmitter (Yamaha) 21.019; 10. Tessels (Suzuki) 24.225; 11. Nekvasil (MV Agusta) 25.045; 12. Tuuli (Yamaha) 25.908; 13. Vitali (Suzuki) 28.395; 14. D’Annunzio (Yamaha) 28.505; 15. Jones (Honda) 28.911; etc.

Standings: 1. Gauthier Duwelz (Yamaha) 25; 2. Tony Covena (Kawasaki) 20; 3. Bastien Chesaux (Honda) 16; 4. Robin Mulhauser (Yamaha) 13; 5. Adrian Nestorovic (Yamaha) 11; 6. Franco Morbidelli (Kawasaki) 10; 7. Christian Gamarino (Kawasaki) 9; 8. Stefano Casalotti (Yamaha) 8; 9. Dominic Schmitter (Yamaha) 7; 10. Wayne Tessels (Suzuki) 6; 11. Marco Nekvasil (MV Agusta) 5;  12. Niki Tuuli (Yamaha) 4; 13. Luca Vitali (Suzuki) 3; 14. Federico D’Annunzio (Yamaha) 2; 15. Mike Jones (Honda) 1.

European Junior Cup

Spaniard Albert Arenas has taken the first pole position of the 2013 Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda season after a late charge that saw him displace long time provisional pole sitter Guillaume Raymond. Raymond (who was fastest yesterday), held on to second ahead of a much improved Michael Canducci. Kiwi Jake Lewis also improved late in the session to take 4^th just a fraction ahead of Illan Fernandez and Javier Orellana who completed the top 6.

Sabrina Paiuta from Brazil continued to mix it amongst the front runners by putting her CBR500cc Honda into a solid 12^th position overall. Amelie Demoulin from France was 34^th on her Honda.

Times: 1. Arenas (Honda) 2’25.483 average 132.238 kph; 2. Raymond (Honda) 2’25.504; 3. Canducci (Honda) 2’25.687; 4. Lewis (Honda) 2’25.855; 5. Fernandez (Honda) 2’26.171; 6. Orellana (Honda) 2’26.213; 7. Levy (Honda) 2’26.523; 8. Sebestyen (Honda) 2’26.686; 9. Rusmiputro (Honda) 2’26.720; 10. Pittet (Honda) 2’26.924; etc.

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