Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 - 01:19 pm:

FIM Superbike World Championship
Phillip Island, Australia
February 28, 2009
Superpole Results

Pos.	Racer	Motorcycle	Lap Time
1	Ben Spies	Yamaha YZF-R1	1:31.069
2	Max Biaggi	Aprilia RSV4	1:31.402
3	Jonathan Rea	Honda CBR1000RR	1:31.596
4	Jakub Smrz	Ducati 1098R	1:31.600
5	Michel Fabrizio	Ducati 1098 F09	1:31.837
6	Leon Haslam	Honda CBR1000RR	1:32.112
7	Carlos Checa	Honda CBR1000RR	1:32.537
8	Regis Laconi	Ducati 1098R	1:32.649
9	Shinya Nakano	Aprilia RSV4	1:31.843
10	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Honda CBR1000RR	1:31.860
11	Yukio Kagayama	Suzuki GSX-R1000K9	1:31.867
12	Tom Sykes	Yamaha YZF-R1	1:31.881
13	Noriyuki Haga	Ducati 1098 F09	1:31.907
14	Max Neukirchner	Suzuki GSX-R1000K9	1:31.916
15	Shane Byrne	Ducati 1098R	1:32.119
16	Broc Parkes	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:32.719
17	Troy Corser	BMW S 1000RR	1:32.873
18	Roberto Rolfo	Honda CBR1000RR	1:32.997
19	Ruben Xaus	BMW S 1000RR	1:33.152
20	Tommy Hill	Honda CBR1000RR	1:33.363
21	Brendan Roberts	Ducati 1098R	1:33.588
22	Makoto Tamada	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:33.709
23	Ayrton Badovini	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:34.174
24	David Salom	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:34.194
25	Karl Muggeridge	Suzuki GSX-R1000K9	1:34.341
26	Luca Scassa	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:34.390
27	Vittorio Iannuzzo	Honda CBR1000RR	1:35.767
28	Matteo Baiocco	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:36.363

Rookie Spies (Yamaha) spices up Superpole at Phillip Island

Texan WSBK rookie Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) powered to the first Superpole win of the season in an exciting opening round session at Phillip Island in Australia. The 24 year-old took the top slot on his YZF R1 machine with a time of 1 minute 31.069 seconds. In the new ‘knock-out’ formula, Italian Max Biaggi scored a second place grid slot, his best ever performance in Superpole, on the brand new Aprilia, the Italian manufacturer returning to Superbike after a seven-year break. The front row of the grid is completed by Britain’s Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Jakub Smrz of the Czech Republic, top Ducati rider on a private Guandalini machine.

Spies, who had never even seen the Australian circuit before last week, set the first pole of his career in his first-ever WSBK race: “There was a lot of pressure on me today but first congratulations to these guys, I know how fast the lap time was and we all did a great job. The Superpole was really good, there was a lot of anticipation, a lot of nerves inside the pit box to get the first pole of the year. It’s going to be hard tomorrow, with 7 or 8 guys up front and the real race will start 8 laps from the end. Luckily we have a good starting spot, that’s all that matters and hopefully we can be there at the end. Just like Biaggi said, I was very surprised at how many people started doing 31s in the second session, we really had to grit our teeth in the last one and put together a good lap.”