In a thrilling Superpole session overnight at Aragon in Spain, Marco Melandri was flawless, qualifying in pole position with an impressive time of 1'57.634, while setting the new track record in the process.
The Italian completed two laps in the opening Superpole heat and confident to have recorded a sufficiently fast pace decided to save his qualifiers for the coming heats. The nail-biting dying seconds of the session saw several riders improve their lap times, bumping Melandri back to 12th.
Melandri performed impeccably in the third and final session, producing his fastest time on the first lap, setting the record time on the new Spanish track and claiming his maiden pole position in his World Superbike career.
"This is an amazing day," Melandri said.
"I really didn't think I'd be in pole position, especially after the first Superpole where I risked not qualifying. My team has been working harder than ever since Misano and we've really come a long way and the bike is working very well. I'm really happy with today and I want to say thanks to Yamaha and all my team. The race tomorrow will be very difficult and competitive. A lot will depend on the heat of the track and tyre wear but hopefully it won't be as windy as today."
The Aprilia duo of Max Biaggi and Leon Camier where 2nd and 3rd fastest with championship leader Carlos Checa 4th to complete the front row.
Tom Sykes put in a late charge to fifth, with Eugene Laverty, Joan Lascorz and Ayrton Badovini all joining him on row two.
In the World Supersport class Championship leader Broc Parkes and his team-mate David Salom dominated qualifying a new best lap of 2'02.093 and Salom finishing close behind on his own Ninja ZX-6R.
The Provec Motocard.com team used the knowledge gained from a relatively recent test at Aragon to be in the leading mix from the very first session this weekend, with Parkes riding a wave of confidence that delivered him a first pole position in partnership with Kawasaki, and the 12th pole of his career. Broc has fallen twice in qualifying but his self-confidence and smart teamwork in the pits mean that he recovered from each with no harm done and he is fully prepared for Sunday's 18-lap race. Broc is confident in his pace in both race and qualifying trim as he goes for back-to-back wins.
"We had a little bit in the bag, I think, and we were always going to put on that last new tyre. I had a couple of downs this weekend so I did not want to use the last tyre too early in the final session," Parkes said.
"Even on my best lap I had a little bit of traffic at the end so maybe we could have made a 2'01 lap time. Anyway, I am really happy to have pole and it's the first one for Kawasaki and I together. I really enjoyed winning the pole but most of all we need to be there for the win tomorrow. The pace looks good for us but the race is 18-laps long, it is going to be hot, so it is will be another challenge tomorrow. There is one choice of rear tyre for all of us, I think. It is working pretty good and we think it is going to go the distance. Things look OK after qualifying."
A fighting third place went to Britain's Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda), while fellow-Brit Chaz Davies completed the front row for the Yamaha ParkinGO team.
Championship leader Luca Scassa could only manage fifth place and a row 2 start, with Massimo Roccoli grabbing sixth place in the final stages from Fabien Foret and James Ellison.
Superpole - 2011 World Superbike Spain - Motorland Aragon 18/06/2011
1. Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 1'57.634
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'57.790
3. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'58.279
4. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1'58.472
5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'58.641
6. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 1'58.756
7. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'59.194
8. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 1'59.591
9. Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'58.566
10. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1'58.640
11. Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'58.950
12. Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'59.680
13. Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1'59.355
14. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1'59.367
15. Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1'59.507
16. Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1'59.565
17. Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 2'00.432
18. Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2'00.507
19. Roberto Rolfo (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 2'00.678
20. Lorenzo Lanzi (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 2'00.776
WSS Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2
1 Broc Parkes - Kawasaki AUS 2'02.773 2'02.093
2 David Salom - Kawasaki ESP 2'03.087 2'02.454
3 Sam Lowes - Honda GBR 2'03.320 2'02.708
4 Chaz Davies - Yamaha GBR 2'03.936 2'03.058
5 Luca Scassa - Yamaha ITA 2'03.943 2'03.140
6 Massimo Roccoli - Kawasaki ITA 2'04.503 2'03.441
7 Fabien Foret - Honda FRA 2'04.466 2'03.537
8 James Ellison - Honda GBR 2'05.285 2'03.614
9 Robbin Harms - Honda DNK 2'06.251 2'03.799
10 Roberto Tamburini - Yamaha ITA 2'04.705 2'03.809
11 Florian Marino Honda - FRA 2'04.889 2'03.821
12 Gino Rea Honda - GBR 2'04.404 2'03.945
13 Vittorio Iannuzzo - Kawasaki ITA 2'07.003 2'04.119
14 Alexander Lundh - Honda SWE 2'06.433 2'04.613
15 Miguel Praia Honda - POR 2'05.498 2'04.762
20 Luca Marconi Yamaha - ITA 2'07.751 2'05.841
26 Yves Polzer Yamaha - AUT 2'09.276 2'07.347
28 Eduard Blokhin - Yamaha RUS 2'11.660 2'09.898
29 Oleg Pozdneev - Yamaha RUS 2'11.642 2'10.902
