Sykes denies Torres maiden pole in Malaysia

Author: Oli Rushby Posted: 01 Aug 2015

Tom Sykes signaled his intent to fight Jonathan Rea to the 2015 World Superbike crown to the bitter end today by storming to a dominant pole position in Sepang.

Sykes left it until the closing moments to deny Aprilia’s Jordi Torres his debut pole, posting a lap of 2’03.240 to clinch his fourth pole of the season. Sylvain Guintoli completes the front row on the PATA Honda.

Wildcard returnee Max Biaggi betters his Misano qualifying by two places and will start fourth on the grid for tomorrow’s two races ahead of Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes and double winner last time out Chaz Davies.

Champion-elect Jonathan Rea will face a tough task fighting through from the third row of the grid in seventh. He starts ahead of Leon Haslam and Niccolo Canepa. Matteo Biaocco rounds out the top ten.

Ayrton Badovini is listed 12^th on the timesheet but will not take up his position on the grid for tomorrow’s races after a heavy crash in FP4.

World Superbikes – Sepang – Qualifying

1. Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – 2’03.240
2. Jordi Torres – Red Devils Aprilia – 2’03.510
3. Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Honda – 2’03.836
4. Max Biaggi – Aprilia – 2’03.948
5. Alex Lowes – Voltcom Crescent Suzuki – 2’04.018
6. Chaz Davies – Aruba.it Ducati – 2’04.179
7. Jonathan Rea – Kawasaki Racing Team – 2’04.207
8. Leon Haslam – Red Devils Aprilia – 2’04.2214
9. Niccolo Canepa – Althea Racing Ducati – 2’04.654
10. Matteo Biaocco – Althea Racing Ducati – 2’05.000
11. Randy de Puniet – Voltcom Crescent Suzuki – 2’05.100
12. Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia – No time set