Superbike Malaysia, Tissot-Superpole: Tom Sykes wins yet another pole

Fassi Malaysian Round, Tissot-Superpole. It wasn't enough for his opponents that Tom Sykes started from SP1 following a day of free practice, which ended with the eleventh time: the English driver once again confirmed himself as unstoppable on the flying lap, conquering his second pole of the season, setting the track record and will soon start from first place on the grid at the Sepang International Circuit for the first heat.

Sykes yesterday concluded a day of free practice with the eleventh time, the result of work carried out above all thinking about setting up the two races, always a weak point compared to teammate Jonathan Rea, who completes an all-British front row with Alex Lowes second.
The Yamaha rider is the only rider from the team to take to the track and will certainly want to give his team a good result and improve on the case history which, up to this point in the season, sees the Japanese bike being competitive on the flying lap but less so in the race.

Sykes yesterday in the press conference he had in fact explained that with his men he had decided to focus on the race pace in the second free practice sessions, and today's events are proving him right for the moment:
“Today we worked on endurance and I am very satisfied with our pace, considering that we know where we need to improve. I think we have good pace over the race distance, we sacrificed some positions in the standings to get it, but it's not the end of the world. We will have to do three extra laps in tomorrow's Superpole; I think we are now better prepared for the race after making a small change, it was more important to understand this than putting on a soft tire to set a good time. If we had done that, I would probably have two more question marks for tomorrow's race. The 15-minute session on Saturday is too short to fully understand the bike's performance in the race."

Fourth place for Nicky Hayden who makes the most of his long "militancy" on the Malaysian track, which has already seen him as a protagonist in many years of the world championship, even if never on the podium, an objective that the Honda rider has set himself for this weekend.
On the second row we also find Chaz Davies with the fifth fastest time ahead of Markus Reiterberger, who as a rookie is behaving really well so far on a track unknown to him.
Good seventh time for Lorenzo Savadori in search of a result as close as possible to the podium, followed by Jordi Torres and Davide Giugliano on the third row.

Michael Van Der Mark on Honda completes the top ten, having experienced a complicated qualifying, as does Leon Camier, who passed from Superpole 1 and finished twelfth behind the Pedercini team rider Anthony West, replacing Sylvain Barrier

Race 1 will start at 10:00 am, Italian time.

Below is the starting grid:

1. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R 2m 2.246s
2. Alex Lowes GBR Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team YZF R1 2m 3.002s
3. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R 2m 3.021s
4. Nicky Hayden USA Honda World Superbike Team CBR1000RR 2m 3.435s
5. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing – Ducati 1199R 2m 3.485s
6. Markus Reiterberger GER Althea BMW Racing Team S1000RR 2m 3.549s
7. Lorenzo Savadori ITA IodaRacing Team RSV4 2m 3.612s
8. Jordi Torres ESP Althea BMW Racing Team S1000RR 2m 3.855s
9. Davide Giugliano ITA Aruba.it Racing – Ducati 1199R 2m 4.052s
10. Michael Van Der Mark NED Honda World Superbike Team CBR1000RR 2m 4.183s
11. Anthony West AUS Pedercini Racing ZX-10R 2m 4.440s
12. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta Reparto Corse 1000 F4 2m 5.399s

Fastest practice time
Lorenzo Savadori ITA Aprilia RSV4 2m 3.951s

Sepang official WorldSBK lap records
Best lap: Sylvain Guintoli FRA Aprilia RSV4 2m 3.002s (2013)
Race lap record: Chaz Davies GBR Ducati Panigale R 2m 4.707s (2015)