British wild card Cal Crutchlow continued to impress in his World Superbike debut by taking the top spot in final qualifying heading into this afternoon’s Superpole session.
The HM Plant Honda rider overcame the increasingly difficult conditions to post a lap of 1:43.486 mins. and lead a Honda sweep of the top three places in second qualifying at Donington Park in the British East Midlands, site of the 11th of 14 rounds of the Superbike World Championship.
The lap, which came with about 20 minutes remaining in the hour, was nearly a second better than the one turned in by World Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) in Friday’s first qualifying session, but only .022 secs. faster than Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, the former British Superbike champion who finished a close second.
HM Plant Honda’s Leon Haslam added to the distinctly British flavor by qualifying third fastest, .256 secs. off Kiyonari’s time.
Then came Yamaha Motor Italia’s Troy Corser, the Australian shrugging off his two Friday crashes to stay upright throughout the hour and post the fourth fastest time, nearly half a second down on Haslam.
Bayliss was one of the few riders who wasn’t able to improve on his Friday time. His Friday lap of 1:44.377 mins. him fifth overall and the last rider on the lead second in a session in which rain spread out the 33-rider field. In contrast, 19 riders were covered by 1.023 secs. in final qualifying at the previous round at Brands Hatch.
Yamaha Motor Italia’s Nori Haga was sixth in front of Rizla Suzuki’s Tom Sykes the third wild card in the top ten.
Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Carlos Checa was eighth in front of Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati’s Max Biaggi and the second Ducati Xerox F08 of Michel Fabrizio.
In his first World Superbike appearance, Corona Extra Honda’s Matt Lynn failed to qualify the Alto Evolution Honda.
Superbike Qualifying:
1. Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:43.486
2. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1:43.508
3. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1:43.764
4. Troy Corser (Yamaha) 1:44.229
5. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1:44.377
6. Nor Haga (Yamaha) 1:44.605
7. Tom Sykes (Suzuki) 1:44.682
8. Carlos Checa (Honda) 1:45.171
9. Max Biaggi (Ducati) 1:45.384
10. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1:45.590
