Super Six for Spies in Superpole

Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) powered to his sixth successive Superpole triumph at the Kyalami circuit in South Africa, equaling the long-standing record set by his fellow Texan Doug Polen (Ducati) in 1991. The session at Kyalami was one of the most exciting seen so far this season, with a two-way battle between the two Monza winners, Spies and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox). The outcome was decided in the final seconds, when the Texan responded to his Italian rival with quickest time by just one-thousandth of a second, the smallest margin ever recorded in Superpole.

Third and fourth places on the front row went to Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox). The Italian, who also recorded the top speed of the day at 251.8 km/h on his RSV4, capitalized on his final run to jump up from seventh to third. For points leader Haga, fourth place can be considered an excellent result: the Japanese rider was almost eliminated in the second knock-out phase, but just managed to make the cut by a whisker from Shinya Nakano (Aprilia Racing).

The second row line-up saw an impressive performance from Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), who will be flanked by the best of the privateers, Jakub Smrz (Guandalini Ducati), Hannspree Ten Kate team-mate Carlos Checa and Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike). South African rider Sheridan Morais put in a good performance for eleventh place on the Kawasaki ZX-10R machine vacated temporarily by Tamada, while Suzuki and BMW struggled, with Yukio Kagayama and Ruben Xaus down on the fourth row of the grid.

1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'37.288
2 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'37.289
3 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'37.466
4 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'37.544
5 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.634
6 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'37.677
7 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.940
8 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'38.241
9 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'37.935
10 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'37.988
11 132 Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'38.013
12 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'38.081
13 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'38.130
14 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'38.171
15 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'38.194
16 36 Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'38.733
17 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'38.766
18 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'38.779
19 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'38.880
20 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'39.001
21 10 Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'39.831
22 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'39.852
23 17 Martin S. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'41.227
24 49 Whyte S. (RSA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'41.737