BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet SBK team rider Ayrton Badovini made the most of a tricky Superpole session at Misano circuit to post the best Superbike World Championship qualifying position of his career to date. The Italian posted the third fastest time and will start tomorrow’s two races from the front row of the grid on his S 1000 RR, next to polesitter Tom Sykes and second placed Jonathan Rea.

BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Leon Haslam will start from the second row of the grid after qualifying sixth fastest, while Marco Melandri wasn’t able to progress to the final session. He finished in 13th, just behind Badovini’s team-mate Michel Fabrizio on the second BMW Motorrad Italia Goldbet SBK team RR.

Due to earlier thunderstorms and rain over the Italian circuit, Superpole had been declared ‘wet’ with two, 20-minute sessions replacing the usual three-stage eliminator format. The initial times were some six seconds off lap record pace due to the damp patches still visible on track, but as the clock ticked down, the times also started to fall. Badovini had been one of the first riders to brave the tricky conditions and he went through in fifth place, with Leon Haslam in seventh.

As only the eight fastest riders progressed to the final session, Marco Melandri was forced to watch this one from the sidelines, having not achieved a satisfactory lap time. However, expect 2011 podium finisher Melandri to make his way through the pack in tomorrow’s two races. All in all, it was a topsy-turvy session, with several of the ‘big names’ also not making the cut, including last year’s Misano double race winner Carlos Checa, and current WSBK championship leader Max Biaggi.

“It has been a very difficult day,” said Marco. “It was raining a little bit at the beginning of Superpole. We did not change anything on the bike, but in Superpole it was a completely different bike compared to free practice. We will try to understand why. I did not get a good feel for the bike, I could not go fast. We tried the qualifying tyre for safety to improve the lap time, but I was suffering with quite a bit of chattering. I am not happy about today and it is going to be very tough tomorrow. Starting from the fourth row is not the best position here in Misano. Now we need to see what we can do tomorrow morning in terms of tyres and bike set-up.”

The second session saw the remaining eight riders do battle on a completely dry track, with the sun shining. Early in the session, Tom Sykes posted a stunning lap time of 1:35.375 – close to former BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Troy Corser’s amazing pole position lap on the S 1000 RR in 2010 – and certainly unbeatable in today’s conditions. Leon Haslam had been second fastest for a while with a time of 1:36.283, but as the session neared its conclusion and the times kept tumbling, the popular British rider had to settle for sixth position and a place on row two of the grid.

“It has been a strange qualifying,” said Leon. “It was really hot and it rained just minutes before the first part so we had to go out on slick tyres while the track was half dry and half wet. We stayed on the race tyre in Superpole 1. The main objective was to get onto the first two rows - that is where we need to be. In Superpole 2, we had chatter again with the qualifying tyre. We had a lot more grip, but we could not make use of it. At the end of qualifying I went out on the race tyre again, but we made a few mistakes with it, to be fair. I am looking forward to tomorrow. We have a good race set-up. Tyre-wise we have five different options this weekend so it took a lot to work out what we needed. The tyre I can do my best lap time on is the one we will use for the race so for me it’s looking pretty good.”

Badovini, however, continued his impressive performance at a track he obviously enjoys racing at. His time of 1:36.083 also saw him in P2 for part of the session, but a late charge by Jonathan Rea relegated Ayrton to third – an excellent result nonetheless.

“I’m very happy for me and my team,” said Badovini, who missed out on his first WSBK podium by just eight hundredths of a second at Misano last year on the RR. “We want to be fast in the races as well as over a single lap, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow!”

The final word went to Andrea Dosoli, Head of Race Operations, who said: “In this morning‘s qualifying session we concentrated our work on the race pace, while in free practice we focused on performance. We can be pleased that both riders have improved their performance significantly compared to yesterday. Unfortunately the rain showers just before the start of Superpole qualifying mixed up everything.

“Leon’s approach to the first Superpole session was successful: he adapted well to the changing tarmac conditions and secured a starting position in the second row. This is important as we expect very tough races. Overall we are happy with the job done by Leon and his crew. Marco, conversely, struggled with the feeling of the bike after the changeable weather conditions. Tomorrow’s starting position does not reflect Marco’s potential, but we are confident that he will do well. We have seen in the last couple of races that with a good start anything is possible and Marco knows how to fight through the ranks.”

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