Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) took a home pole position at Silverstone, with a record fastest lap of 2'04.091.

The Coventry man held off the charge of Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) in fine style, while Jakub Smrz (Pata B&G) moved forward impressively with some great single laps to go fourth on the grid.

Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two 10th round World Superbike championship races from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole qualifying session.

Pole position was taken by fellow British rider, Cal Crutchlow, after Rea had topped the timing sheets in this morning’s second qualifying session when the 5.902km Silverstone circuit was still damp in patches following overnight rain.

The new Silverstone layout has received an enthusiastic thumbs up from Rea and his World Superbike rivals, despite changes in track surface and its bumpy nature. He and Crutchlow are joined on the front row by Michel Fabrizio and Jakub Smrz.

Rea’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate Max Neukircher was unable to improve the set-up of his CBR1000RR Fireblade in this morning’s damp conditions. The German qualified for Superpole thanks to his time from yesterday’s session but he was unable to progress beyon d Superpole 1 and will start tomorrow’s two 18-lap races from 18th place on the grid.

Jonathan Rea – P2, 2’04.763s

It’s really fun to ride here and tomorrow should deliver two fantastic races – there are so many good passing places. I want to thank all my fans and sponsors for coming out for my home race and I’ll certainly ride with a smile on my face tomorrow. The last two weeks have been a little crazy but it’s great to start the weekend at Silverstone like this. It’s the front row, and you can’t ask for much more than to start a race from there. It was a great time by Cal and it was too fast for me today, but I’m enjoying riding the bike, it’s a lot of fun, and I think the 18 laps are going to go quite fast compared to my Suzuka adventure last weekend. So I’ll need to pull the pin quite early on and see what happens, but the bike’s good, the team’s good and track is awesome – you can’t help but smile when you’re riding round here !

Ducati Xerox rider Michel Fabrizio was more than satisfied with today’s Superpole result at Silverstone when, despite some very stiff competition from several riders, particularly the British contingent, he closed the session with the third fastest time, ensuring himself of a front row start for tomorrow’s races, alongside Cal Crutchlow, Jonathan Rea and Jakub Smrz.

Michel Fabrizio
“I’m really happy with today’s result and I dedicate it to my team who have been working so hard this weekend. I love this new track and after the second session yesterday I felt confident that I’d be able to qualify on the front row today. Superpole went very well; I chose to use a race tyre in the last phase because the first qualifier I’d used earlier hadn’t given me a great feeling, and my choice proved to be a good one. We have a good race pace I think, though Cal is faster, and I must say I’m feeling quite confident ahead of tomorrow’s races.”

Leon Haslam just missed out on a front row grid place today in final Superpole at the 10th round of the World Superbike Championship at Silverstone when he was held up by a slower rider on his flying lap.

He will now start tomorrow's pair of 18-lap races from the second row of the grid

Leader of the rider rankings Max Biaggi was a key player in a truly heated session which saw him enter the top eight with just over three tenths gap behind second place. In the battle of the top eight Max landed the sixth time (2'05.682) and by just a few seconds was unable to launch himself into a higher spot during a very decisive final lap.

Team mate Leon Camier was unfortunate, looking quite fast during the practice rounds, but ending his day in the second pole session (sixteenth, 2'06'064) after having his best time deleted for letting his rear wheel go outside the regulation track. An oversight which in any case doesn't undermine the rider's confidence in light of his performance in the previous sessions.

Silverstone - SUPERBIKE - Superpole 3