Incredible Front Row for Melandri in Eventful Wet Superpole

Yamaha World Superbike Rider Marco Melandri fought hard and performed flawlessly to earn a well- deserved front row on tomorrow's starting grid in his home race in Misano.

This afternoon's Superpole sessions opened in dramatic fashion with the arrival of unseasonal rain on the Italian Riviera. The threatened showers managed to hold off for the morning's free practice and qualifying sessions but a downpour just before the first Superpole gave way to treacherous track conditions causing many riders to slide and crash in the opening laps. Marco Melandri cleverly played a crafty first heat which he completed in fifth position. The Italian carefully tested the track which began to resemble an ice rink as riders such as Checa, Biaggi, Xaus, Camier, Smrz and Laverty slided off their machines, just minutes into the session. Fortunately Laverty was unhurt and managed to get back on his R1 and produce a fast lap in the dying seconds that saw him qualify for the second heat in ninth place. As the rain began to cease and the track dry, Melandri and Laverty improved on lap times and went through to Superpole two in seventh and 11th place. Laverty was unfortunate in the second heat being bumped to tenth place missing out on a second row start in tomorrow's two races by less than a tenth of a second, while his team-mate completed the session in sixth place. Superpole three saw a competitive Melandri battle for pole position but losing time on the final section the Italian settled for fourth place which sets him nicely on the front row tomorrow.

Yamaha World Superbike riders lost valuable track time in this morning's free practice as they were victim to major tyre issues where Melandri was unable to perform for the majority of the session. Despite this set back both riders managed to improve and optimize race settings in the afternoon’s free practice enabling them to face tomorrow's races confident they will be contending for a podium.

Marco Melandri

Yamaha World Superbike Team - 4th, 1'55.768
"It was very important for me to be careful in the first Superpole, avoid making any errors to test the track conditions, gain confidence in the wet and see where I could improve on the bike before the second Superpole. It got particularly difficult when the track began to dry, I thought we had better grip but the tyres just seemed to give in all of a sudden. We had a very difficult session for this morning's free practice. Suffering from tyre issues, we were unable to work on our race settings for tomorrow. A lot will depend on the weather conditions but I'll certainly do my best. It's great to be on the front row, it should a good race and I'm very optimistic."

Eugene Laverty

Yamaha World Superbike Team - 10th, 1'57.454
"We made some big steps in the dry weather especially in the afternoon's free practice, so our race setting should be quite good. I was really looking forward to an enjoyable Superpole, but unfortunately it started to rain just as we were going out. It was very difficult and I struggled, crashing and just missing out on the final eight. Tenth isn't so bad though! We have some work to do if we are to expect a wet race but we should be strong and competitive in the dry conditions we hope for."