Superbike, Motul Italian Round, Tissot Superpole: extraordinary pole for Chaz Davies

A very hard-fought Race 1 promises to be at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, the scene of the fifth round of the season this weekend: Chaz Davies snatches a great pole from Tom Syes by just 32 thousandths and will start in front of everyone with the aim to give a great performance to the Ducati public, who turned out in large numbers for the home race.

The Welsh rider has always maintained the first position in the time table, and has constantly improved his time up to 1'45.662 thanks to which he beat the two Kawasakis: the front row is in fact completed by Jonathan Rea, at + 0.324 from the leader.

Fourth time for Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) author of an extraordinary performance, best lap in 1'46.434, which also led him to fight for the front row: next to him Marco Melandri, late compared to his Teammate Davies by a full second and struggling with braking problems, and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia Team) first of the RSV4 Aprilias on the grid.
The third row is made up of Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team), Tati Mercado (IODARacing team) and Michael van der Mark, best Yamaha rider.
The Argentine rider from the Iodarcing team crashed into the barriers during the third free practice session of the morning, fortunately without consequences for him and the bike.

Fourth row instead for the two riders who passed Superpole 1, Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia Team) and Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), tenth and twelfth respectively, and among them there will be the Yamaha of Alex Lowes.
Thirteenth time instead for Nicky Hayden who was the author of a bad fall during FP3: the excess work required from the Honda mechanics to repair the bike certainly did not help the SP1 set-up, given that yesterday the American rider had also complained about not having collected enough from the afternoon free practice session.

Finally, Jordi Torres, Team Althea Racing, will start last, having not yet taken to the track today due to bad gastroenteritis: we will see if he will be able to take part in the race.

Meet at 13pm with the start of Race 00.

Below is the starting grid for Race 1:
. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 45.662s
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 45.694s
3. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 45.986s
4. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta RC F4 RR 1m 46.434s
5. Marco Melandri ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 46.610s
6. Eugene Laverty IRE Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 46.617s
7. Xavi Fores ESP Barni Ducati 1199R 1m 46.915s
8. Leandro Mercado ITA IodaRacing Aprilia RSV4 1m 47.516s
9. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 47.685s
10. Lorenzo Savadori ITA Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 47.854s
11. Alex Lowes GBR PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 1m 47.888s
12. Stefan Bradl GER Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 48.518s

Grid positions determined by Superpole 1 results:

13. Nicky Hayden USA Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 48.698s
14. Roman Ramos ESP Team Go Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 48.734s
15. Randy Krummenacher SWI Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 48.958s
16. Raffaele De Rosa ITA Althea BMW S1000RR 1m 48.988s
17. Ayrton Badovini ITA Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 49.007s
18. Alex de Angelis SMR Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 49.111s
19. Riccardo Russo ITA Guandalini Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 49.519s
20. Ondrej Jezek CZE Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 50.597s
21. Jordi Torres ESP Althea BMW S1000RR No time set