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Superpole at Aragon

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Saturday, 30 June 2012 18:44
TWO APRILIAS ON THE FRONT ROW AFTER SUPERPOLE: MAX BIAGGI TAKES SECOND PLACE, FOLLOWED BY TEAM MATE EUGENE LAVERTY.

JUST ONE INCREDIBLE LAP BY SYKES PREVENTS THE APRILIA RACING TEAM FROM TAKING A ONE-TWO IN SUPERPOLE.

The Aragon Superpole was the umpteenth confirmation of the level that the World Superbike Championship has reached. At the end of three very close sessions the Aprilia Racing Team finds itself with both riders on the front row: Max Biaggi and Eugene Laverty did not disappoint expectations after showing consistent speed throughout the weekend.

The Corsair's Superpole can be considered perfect. Max came through the first two sessions easily without making any mistakes and arriving at the last session in the best possible conditions. His time was surpassed only by a fantastic lap by Tom Sykes, the Superpole specialist: this, however, does not take away from Biaggi's performance, who will turn up on the starting grid tomorrow with absolute motivation.

Max Biaggi had this to say about his Superpole: “This second place comes after some good test sessions which placed us consistently in the top five. I like this track. We were fast here last year as well, so it's a shame about first place, but Tom was really faster than anyone else. I think tomorrow will be a battle. Most of the riders will be in the running and we'll have to deal with the temperatures. We still have some uncertainties that we'll try to resolve between this evening and the warm-up tomorrow morning”.

Eugene Laverty also had an excellent Superpole, finishing in third place under the chequered flag. The Northern Irish rider proved to be fast during the sessions leading up to Superpole, confirming the progress made during the tests at Aragon last week. Eugene is well aware of the difficulties ahead, but he is also confident in his chances of battling for the positions that count.

“The first row is definitely a good result – confirmed Eugene – but the most satisfying thing is the pace we've demonstrated during all the practice sessions. We did some work on the bike to solve the problems we had during the last few races and for the moment the results are quite encouraging. Things will be complicated tomorrow, but starting from the front is always an advantage, especially when there are several riders with a similar race pace”.

Article source: Aprilia Racing 
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