Ben Spies once again is on blistering form, and on a circuit he has not ridden at before, and set his fourth successive pole position. So far he is having a really impressive rookie season.

He didn’t get it easy though and was pushed by both Jakob Smrz and Britain’s Leon Haslem who qualified second and third respectively.

In Superpole 1 Xaus it seems is still to find his form on the BMW and didn’t manage to get in the top 16, finishing 20th when the session ended despite teammate Corser finishing in the top 8 in that session. Tommy Hill looked to be really pushing the Honda but couldn’t get into the 2nd Superpole session either.

In the second session Biaggi looked to go out on a qualifying tyre and set good times initially but finished low down and in the end finished 10th which he did not seem to be too impressed with.

Corser could not repeat his form of the first Superpole and finished on the fourth row of the grid in 15th place.

Laconi who at one stage was in provisional pole position, in Superpole 1, eventually finished on the 3rd row of the grid.

Smrz on the Guandolini Ducati was the surprise of the qualifying and was the only other rider, aside from Spies to finish in the 1.37s. Expect to see Gregorio Lavilla riding for this squad in the next round so we may see some good things from this team for the rest of the season.

Leon Haslem, currently sitting 5th in the championship, is also on form on the Stiggy Honda and certainly looked up for it in all three sessions setting good times early on. With lots of British fans making the journey over to Assen lets hope the sun keeps shining and they see some great racing. Leon’s teammate, John Hopkins, dislocated his hip in a big off in practice and is expected to be out for the next two rounds.

A very casual and relaxed Spies, who seemed to spend more time in the pit than he did on the bike stormed superpole. Although he was outside of the top ten in Superpole 2, possibly saving his qualifying tyre for Superpole 3, he soon showed his race winning form.

Times courtesy of www.worldsbk.com:
1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’37.626
2 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’37.765
3 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.072
4 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’38.202
5 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’38.215
6 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’38.353
7 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.640
8 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’38.790
9 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’38.288
10 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’38.441
11 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’38.510
12 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’38.521
13 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’38.802
14 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’38.811
15 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’38.906
16 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’39.079
17 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’39.387
18 24 Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 1’39.390
19 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’39.569
20 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’39.643
21 94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1’40.496
22 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’40.572
23 32 Easton S. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’40.608
24 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’41.014
25 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’41.057
26 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’41.062
27 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’41.085
28 88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’41.978

From www.worldsbk.com:

World Supersport

1 35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’40.313
2 26 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’40.848
3 54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1’40.998
4 50 Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.002
5 99 Foret F. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’41.130
6 24 McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 1’41.412
7 51 Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’41.436
8 13 West A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.496
9 127 Harms R. (DEN) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.566
10 1 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.653
11 77 Veneman B. (NED) Suzuki GSX-R600 1’41.743
12 8 Aitchison M. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.794
13 55 Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.858
14 14 Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’41.898
15 21 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’42.007
16 117 Praia M. (POR) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.052
17 7 Vostárek P. (CZE) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.093
18 105 Vizziello G. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.354
19 69 Nannelli G. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 1’42.358
20 28 Vos A. (NED) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.553
21 83 Holland R. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.605
22 9 Dell’Omo D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.663
23 30 Günther J. (GER) Honda CBR600RR 1’42.792
24 53 Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R600 1’42.902
25 32 Lai F. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’43.314
26 5 Pradita T. (INA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’43.491
27 96 Smrz M. (CZE) Triumph Daytona 675 1’43.936
28 57 Bos K. (NED) Yamaha YZF R6 1’44.285
29 94 Van Nieuwenhuizen M. (NED) Yamaha YZF R6 1’44.363
30 88 Guerra Y. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6 1’45.342
31 27 Van Poppel T. (NED) Yamaha YZF R6 1’45.782