This afternoon’s second Superpole session was dramatically affected by a short rain shower as Pata Honda riders Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam fought for final grid positions in tomorrow's two third-round World Superbike races at Assen in the Netherlands.

The Superpole 2 competitors, including both Rea and Haslam, had just completed an initial flying lap on race rubber to get a good feeling for the 4.542km Assen circuit and had entered the pits to switch to Pirelli qualifying tyres.

As they got up to speed, the rain effectively aborted the fast laps of both Rea, who finished fifth fastest and starts from the second row, and Haslam, who was 11th. Pole position was taken by Loriz Baz, who managed to complete his own lap before the rain fell.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for further rain during tomorrow’s two 21-lap races at Assen, the first of which goes at 10.30 local time, the second at 13.10.

Jonathan Rea - P5, 1m35.361s

Superpole was strange because, just as we changed for the qualifying tyre, the rain came and only two riders were able to complete their laps. We didn’t really get the chance to show our full potential but we did a lot of work this morning on our race set-up with the option tyres. We’re satisfied with our pace but we’ll just have to see what the weather brings because it’s forecasting changeable conditions. The bike is working really well and we’ve got on top of our engine braking issues. Our speed is fast, but we need to be a little more consistent when the tyre drops. Obviously it would be better for everyone if it stays dry tomorrow because all the set-up work has been done in the dry. But, if it’s wet, it’s the same for everyone. We have an OK wet set-up after we did some wor k in Jerez, but what will be will be. The aim to is to get a good start tomorrow and go with the front group and then to see what that brings us.

Leon Haslam - P11, 1m36.284s

We tried three different race tyres today, concentrating on the harder options more than anything. They don’t feel too bad but we’re just lacking a little bit of pace. I think we’ve got a good step to try with our engine braking in the morning and I’m quite happy with the chassis settings that we’ve had today. I was confident going into Superpole this afternoon but we just got caught out by the rain, like a lot of people, and I didn’t get a chance to use the Q. We’ve been working on a dry set-up all weekend so, if it’s wet tomorrow, it’ll throw another spanner in the works. It’ll be the same for everyone either way, though, so I’ll just get my head down.

Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

We got caught out by the weather this afternoon after Jonathan had done a 35.3 on his race tyre. He went out on a qualifier but it started to rain so that ended his mission to park it on the front row. He still got the second row, however, and his race pace is pretty good. In normal, dry conditions, and also in the wet, I think he can fight for the podium so we’ll see what the weather brings. Leon had some problems finding a good setting here at Assen and his grid position is not what we expected. We still have work to do to see if we can improve things in tomorrow’s warm-up and hope he can have a couple of good races.

Qualifying position

1 Loris Baz 1'34.357 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli 1'34.845 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes 1'35.311 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Marco Melandri 1'35.333 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Jonathan Rea 1'35.361 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
6 Davide Giugliano 1'35.476 ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
7 Niccolo Canepa 1'35.500 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
8 Eugene Laverty 1'35.646 IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Alex Lowes 1'35.684 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Toni Elias 1'36.203 SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
11 Leon Haslam 1'36.284 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
12 Chaz Davies 1'36.288 GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
13 Leon Camier 1'36.434 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
14 Ayrton Badovini 1'36.547 ITA BIMOTA Team Alstare
15 David Salom 1'36.749 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
16 Christian Iddon 1'36.772 GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare
17 Claudio Corti 1'36.888 ITA MV AGUSTA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
18 Jeremy Guarnoni 1'37.141 FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
19 Sheridan Morais 1'37.280 RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
20 Luca Scassa 1'37.343 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
21 Michel Fabrizio 1'37.648 ITA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
22 Fabien Foret 1'38.038 FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
23 Alessandro Andreozzi 1'38.771 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
24 Kervin Bos 1'38.860 NED HONDA Winteb LiquidRubber Racing T.
25 Imre Toth 1'39.464 HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
26 Aaron Yates 1'40.502 USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
27 Geoff May 1'40.889 USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
28 Peter Sebestyen 1'42.580 HUN BMW BMW Team Toth

Championship standings

1 Tom Sykes 75 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Loris Baz 71 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Sylvain Guintoli 64 pts FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Marco Melandri 49 pts ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Jonathan Rea 48 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
6 Eugene Laverty 46 pts IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
7 Davide Giugliano 43 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
8 Chaz Davies 30 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
9 Leon Haslam 25 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
10 Toni Elias 23 pts SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
11 David Salom 22 pts ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
12 Niccolo Canepa 16 pts ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
13 Fabien Foret 9 pts FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
14 Alex Lowes 9 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
15 Leon Camier 8 pts GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
16 Sheridan Morais 7 pts RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
17 Glen Allerton 6 pts AUS BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
18 Jeremy Guarnoni 4 pts FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
19 Claudio Corti 3 pts ITA MV AGUSTA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
20 Luca Scassa 2 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
21 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
22 Imre Toth 0 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
23 Geoff May 0 pts USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
24 Alessandro Andreozzi 0 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
25 Aaron Yates 0 pts USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR

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