Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) set a new track best at Magny-Cours to take his ninth Superpole win in 14 attempts on the official 2012 Ninja ZX0-10R, underlining the pure pace of man and machine.

Sykes set a 1’36.950 lap time on his way to the prime starting spot for Sunday’s 23-lap races at the 4.411km circuit in the centre of France. With weather conditions set to be changeable and probably wet on raceday Sykes will now call on his good recent experiences in such conditions in his aim to score enough points to let him win the championship.

His main rivals, Marco Melandri and current points leader Max Biaggi, were fourth and tenth respectively after Superpole, putting Tom in a good position on the eve of the last raceday of an often successful season for the whole Kawasaki Racing Team. Some 30.5 points behind Biaggi, Tom now knows he has to simply go for the best results possible on race day to keep the pressure up on his rivals.

Silverstone race winner Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) overcame a bout of intestinal illness to get into the Superpole competition but running wide on the fast third turn cost him around 0.8 seconds at a crucial time and he could not progress all the way through Superpole at his home round. He is 13th on the grid.

Team Pedercini Kawasaki Superbike riders this weekend, Claudio Corti and Alexander Lundh, both made the Superpole cut but had very different fortunes. Corti, in his first SBK ride for the team, finally qualified a strong 12th on the grid after reaching Superpole 2. Lundh had a heavy fall in practice and suffered compound fractures of his T7 and T8 vertebrae, but without any neurological damage, although he will, of course, not race on Sunday.

In the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup Team Pedercini Kawasaki rider Bryan Staring still has a chance to win the title and today he qualified fourth, one place behind Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki). Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) was ninth.

Tom Sykes:

“It is nice to get another circuit record and it is something a little bit personal for me. The challenge is good and I have a great team and manufacturer behind me who will help me achieve these goals, so I am very happy. I am starting the last race of 2012 from pole position so that is another little something that keeps me motivated for tomorrow, especially for my main rival on the third row. I am just happy that my team and Kawasaki have given me a good package to use once again.”

Loris Baz:

“On my fast lap the feeling with the qualifying tyre compared to the race tyre was a little bit different and on the fast lap I went a little out of line on the long, fast, turn three. Without this mistake I could have gone into Superpole two. Our lap time is good on race tyres and we have made good improvements from Friday to now. I felt a little bit ill today but I am OK.”

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