Serial qualifier Jakub Smrz grabbed provisional pole for Sunday's Imola World Superbike double header by just three one-hundredths of a second from Joan Lascorz with his final qualification lap at the Italian track this afternoon as the top six riders are covered by less than two-tenths of a second.
The Effenbert Ducati man pulled his lap out of nowhere to top the timesheet with a 1'48.146 compared to the Kawasaki man's 1'48.176 while all Tom Sykes could do was watch as his almost-certain fastest time was chipped away and he slid down to third on the provisional grid with former champion Max Biaggi in fourth place.
Sykes had been around top spot for the entire session, setting a 1'48.400 in his opening run which was followed by a 1'48.590 from BMW's Leon Haslam. The pair were sitting pretty as the clocked ticked down but a flurry of last-ditch attempts from Lascorz, Biaggi and Rea dropped the S1000RR-mounted Briton, who still has metalwork in his leg, to sixth.
Haslam's best lap of 1'48.328 is only 0.182 slower than Smrz while reigning champion Carlos Checa is only a further 0.047s behind the Briton in seventh. The second Effenbert Ducati of Sylvain Guintoli, who experienced a technical problem in the session, managed to stay in eighth with Eugene Laverty ninth and Leon Camier, who was third with a few minutes left, dropping down to tenth but still only 0.4s off the pace.
Parkingo Aprilia's Chaz Davies continues to make improvements and will take no small comfort that even though he is 15th on the timesheet, he is only 0.8s behind Smrz while snapping at the heels of former MotoGP Marco Melandri who is two tenths ahead of him in 14th. The returning John Hopkins crashed at turn 18 but is said to be ok.
Top six gaps
Smrz 1'48.146
Lascorz 0.030
Sykes 0.100
Biaggi 0.101
Rea 0.175
Haslam 0.182
