Despite two crashes this weekend Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow continued to show the devastating pace that has taken him to the top of the championship standings.
A bad tyre choice in today's qualifying resulted in a small crash, however the unhurt Crutchlow was able to rejoin and get back on the pace with a change of rubber. He spent the duration of the session as the fastest rider, dropping to second towards the end of the as Sofuoglu laid down a fast 1'51.2 lap. As the seconds ticked to end the qualifying Crutchlow sent a clear message with his Yamaha R6, putting down a supersonic final lap of 1'50.6 to take his ninth pole of the season, over half a second clear of second placed Sofuoglu and two seconds clear of championship rival Eugene Laverty, starting from the second row in seventh.
"It's been not the best day, two crashes in one day isn't great, however I think we've got the pace to win and I think we actually don't need to go as fast as we thought we did to win the race," Cal Crutchlow said.
"We'll see tomorrow. I'm not worried about winning by a massive margin tomorrow as there's no point, we don't need to. I crashed twice with a new tyre we were trying today so we won't be using that one again. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's race, hopefully we can keep winning."
Crutchlow's team mate Fabien Foret improved on his set up from yesterday's session, putting in consistently fast race pace laps to end in eighth position and earning a second row grid start for tomorrow's Supersport race.
"Today was better for me than yesterday," Foret said. "I'm still not completely happy with the feel of the bike, the set up we found at the test is not working so well now the track is different. It's frustrating to be on the second row again as I will have to fight my way through the pack to get to the front. I think from today I know I have a good race pace so I should be able to fight for a podium if I get a good start."
WSS Qualifying 1
1 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'50.680
2 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'51.260
3 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 1'51.955
4 Massimo Roccoli Honda ITA 1'52.280
5 Garry McCoy Triumph AUS 1'52.400
6 Mark Aitchison Honda AUS 1'52.443
7 Eugene Laverty Honda GBR 1'52.599
8 Fabien Foret Yamaha FRA 1'52.789
9 Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 1'52.856
10 Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 1'53.039
11 Chaz Davies Triumph GBR 1'53.134
12 Katsuaki Fujiwara Kawasaki JPN 1'53.264
13 Miguel Praia Honda POR 1'53.292
14 Danilo Dell'omo Honda ITA 1'53.301
15 Anthony West Honda AUS 1'53.553
