Tom Sykes has scored both his and Rizla Suzuki's first Bennetts British Superbike pole position of the season after thrilling qualifying session at
Mallory Park.
The Suzuki rider was in superb form around the challenging Leicestershire circuit when he topped the timesheets early on, but it looked like his hopes of pole position would be dashed by a electrical problem after 20 minutes that forced him to defer to his spare bike.
However, while Sykes admitted it wasn't riding entirely perfectly, it was still enough for him to sneak the fastest lap of the weekend so far with just ten seconds on the clock remaining.
A popular result for ‘The Grinner', perhaps the only downside of the result was that his final lap prevented a stunning maiden pole position for Michael Laverty on the sister Relentless Suzuki.
The reigning British Supersport Champion has shown well so far this weekend and looked destined for a spot on the first two rows in the early stages as he steadily improved his lap. However, he appeared as though he would be going one better with less than ten minutes remaining when he jumped up into the provisional slot.
Prompting Shane Byrne, who had held the top spot for some time, to experience an off as he attempted to respond, Laverty will still be pleased with comfortably his best performance of the season so far.
Championship leader Byrne will still start third though, even if the Airwaves Ducati does not looked quite as composed as usual this weekend. Byrne had snatched the top spot at the half-way mark, but could do nothing about Sykes or Laverty in the latter stages. Still, he managed better than team-mate Leon Camier, the
Snetterton winner unable to do any better than 11th.
Indeed, while Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam flew the HM Plant Honda flag in fourth and fifth, there were a few notable performances to point out inside the top ten.
