Sykes on pole yet again
British rider makes it seven poles from nine races
By William Esler. Last Updated: July 21, 2012 5:36pm
Tom Sykes: On pole at Brno
Kawasaki's Tom Sykes continued his domination of World Superbike qualifying, taking his seventh pole in nine races this season.
The British rider set a new lap record of 1:58.010 to edge out Ducati's Carlos Checa and Aprilia's Eugene Laverty.
Davide Giugliano was fourth for Ducati, with Marco Melandri the first BMW in fifth, and Northern Ireland's Jonathan Rea in sixth for Honda.
Championship leader Max Biaggi's gamble of not using his quicker qualifying tyre in the first session backfired dramatically, and he will start both races in the Czech Republic from 14th.
The drama continued in the second part of qualifying when Giugliano's bike leaked fluid onto the Brno circuit, causing him to crash along with Ayrton Badovini, Jakub Smrz and David Salom.
The session was red flagged for an hour whilst marshals cleaned the track.
