Chaz Davies has taken his first ever World Superbike pole position after leading a sensational Ducati 1-2 in Superpole at Laguna Seca. The Welshman ended his three and a half year wait with a tremendous lap which saw him edge out teammate Davide Giugliano and surprise package Jordi Torres.
Davies had previously set the pace in Friday practice, only for the Kawasaki of Tom Sykes to edge ahead in FP3, but Ducati looked a class above the rest throughout SP2. First blood went to Giugliano with a 1:23.086, already the quickest lap of the weekend, but Davies became the first rider to break into the 1:22s on his second lap with race rubber.
A switch to qualifying tyres saw the times tumble but Ducati retained their four-tenth advantage over the fastest Kawasaki. Davies found nine tenths, lowering the benchmark time to a 1:22.101, while Giugliano came up short after encountering traffic on his first run. His second run was clearer, although the Italian did catch the Suzuki of Alex Lowes after crossing the line, promptly ruining the Briton’s lap as they rounded the first corner side-by-side.
Despite having never raced at Laguna Seca before, Torres rode superbly to snatch third from Sykes with championship Jonathan Rea only fifth after a critical error on his qualifying tyre run. Leon Haslam rounds out the second row on the second Aprilia with Niccolo Canepa seventh ahead of an annoyed Alex Lowes while Leon Camier starts tenth after navigating his way through a tight SP1 session, just behind reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli.
GEICO US ROUND: SUPERPOLE CLASSIFICATION
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