Rea Gets His First In Assen

Paul Carruthers | April 24, 2010

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea scored the first pole position of his World Superbike career today, the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland scorching his way around the Circuit van Drenthe in 1:34.944 in the final segment of Superpole.Rea dropped the bomb on the rest of the field straight away in Superpole 3, the CBR1000RR-mounted rider throwing down the first sub-1:35 lap of the weekend. The time would stand throughout the short final session with Team Pata B&G Ducati’s Jakub Smrz ending up the closest to Rea, but coming up short with his 1:35.062. Smrz had led Friday’s qualifying on his privateer Ducati.BMW’s Troy Corser put the factory S1000 RR on the front row with the third quickest time after giving the German team its first provisional pole position when he led this afternoon’s final qualifying prior to Superpole. The Australian lapped at 1:35.621 in that session and improved to 1:35.306 in Superpole 3.Championship leader Leon Haslam will start tomorrow’s two races in Holland from the fourth spot on the front row, the Brit dropping from second in Superpole 2 to fourth in Superpole 3. The front row will consist of four different brands of motorcycles – Honda, Ducati, BMW and Suzuki.Row two will be led by a fifth brand with Assen rookie Leon Camier riding his factory Aprilia to the fifth best time in Superpole 3 and outshinning his teammate Max Biaggi in the process. Biaggi ended Superpole 2 in 11th and didn’t make the eight-rider cut to Superpole 3.Camier will be joined on the second row by the two Athea Ducatis of Carlos Checa and Shane Byrne, the Spaniard leading his British teammate by just .017 of a second in Superpole 3. Ducati Xerox’s Michel Fabrizio will complete row three on the factory Ducati after a lackluster Superpole 3.But he was better off than this teammate as Noriyuki Haga didn’t make the cut to Superpole 3 after ending Superpole 2 in 15th.Both BMW’s made it through to Superpole 2 with Ruben Xaus joining Corser. The Spaniard, however, ended up 12th after crashing at the end of the session.Both of the factory Yamahas also failed to make the cut to Superpole 3 with Cal Crutchlow and James Toseland ending the prior session in ninth and 10th, respectively.

Superpole

1. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1:34.944

2. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1:35.062

3. Troy Corser (BMW) 1:35.306

4. Leon Haslam (Suzuki) 1:35.330

5. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 1:35.633

6. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1:35.892

7. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1:35.909

8. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1:35.405

9. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1:36.027

10. James Toseland (Yamaha) 1:36.061