Ben Spies and the new Yamaha R1 are proving to be a match made in heaven and have again taken superpole for tomorrow’s racing in Losail, Qatar.

Whilst I’m still not a fan of the three stage superpole, and I’m in good company as Corser reportedly apparently dislikes it also, it has made for an unpredictable grid so far this season with a few surprises along the way.

The Eurosport commentators are actually calling for the last eight to be on race tyres as opposed to qualifiers and were this to be adopted then we might get some of the old excitement back.

Three Brits were the surprise victims of this round’s Superpole 3 – Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslem and Tommy Hill – with Neukirchner being another surprise for the 5th row of the grid. Rea and Neukirchner do tend to be good starters so they might not be totally out of the running in the race.

Superpole 2, which decides positions 9 to 16 on the grid, did have some surprises, both in a good and a bad way. Whilst Xaus and Corser managed to get into Superpole 2, which was an improvement on Phillip Island they didn’t improve much on their grid positions being 15th and 16th, respectively. Good surprises were Roberto Rolfo who will start 9th on the grid, just outside the top 8.

Superpole 1 had little of the excitement of the old superpole (OK I might stop mentioning it soon!), however Smrz took a surprise second place on the grid and Biaggi was delighted with his third place and does look entirely happy with his decision to ride for Aprilia.

As I have Shakey Byrne in my motorcycle news fantasy league then it is good to see him on the 8th place on the grid and hopefully he can manage to finish a race this round!

Also Tom Sykes at 5th on the grid is obviously now getting on the pace with the Yamaha R1.

Ben Spies was largely an unknown quantity in the UK prior to his wild card rides for Suzuki in last years Moto GP despite the fact that he is three times AMA Superbike champion. He is more than making up for that now with his second pole position in two rounds. The new Yamaha R1 engine, according to the Eurosport commentators has been developed to have less tyre wear and so far that is proving to be the case as was observed after his victory at Phillip Island.

In the post qualifying interview Spies said that he expects the racing to be extremely close as a lot of the guys have improved their speed. Great, close racing, I can’t wait.

Results courtesy of www.worldsbk.com:
1 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’57.280
2 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’57.384
3 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1’57.694
4 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’57.850
5 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’57.878
6 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 1’58.755
7 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.090
8 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 2’00.021
9 44 Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’58.734
10 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’58.919
11 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’59.044
12 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.055
13 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’59.074
14 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’59.134
15 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’59.435
16 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’59.454
17 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.713
18 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’59.882
19 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’59.926
20 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 2’00.108
21 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 2’00.738
22 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’00.839
23 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’01.047
24 24 Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 2’01.165
25 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 2’01.560
26 86 Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’01.561
27 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’01.607
28 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’02.663