Troy Bayliss has paid tribute to Max Neukirchner after being unable to get close to his pole position winning time during World Superbike Superpole at the Nurburgring.
As the last rider to set a time, Bayliss was confident he could beat the top marker he thought had been laid down by
Carlos Checa, but was unaware that it was Neukirchner's superior lap he was in fact chasing.
As such, Bayliss missed out by a clear fourth tenths to qualify second on his Xerox Ducati. Nonetheless, while he was frustrated to miss out on pole position, he was still satisfied with the front row.
"The practices have all been going well. In Superpole I thought I could beat Carlos', albeit very fast, time but I didn't realise during my lap that Max had already gone faster than Carlos - I forgot to look at my lap board when I went out so when I came down the straight I thought I'd got it but then I saw that Max had already gone faster and so I was second...
Bayliss also took the time to congratulate Neukirchner from getting pole position on home ground, adding that he expects him to be even harder to beat in the races.
“I couldn't have gone any faster even if I'd known, so well done to Max - taking the pole in front of your home crowd is a very special thing. But tomorrow will be difficult and we'll see how it turns out tomorrow.”
