Jonathan Rea took his second Superpole of 2011 during the final round of the World Superbike season at Portimao.
The Northern Irishman headed the top of the timesheets when it counted the most, in SP3 he stopped the clock with a stunning lap of 1.
41.
712 that broke Cal Crutchlow’s 2010 record by almost three tenths of second.
World Superbike champion and birthday boy Carlos Checa, who is donning a special edition helmet celebrating both the Superbike crown and his birthday will be taking off in second and he was just a little more than two tenths of a second adrift.
Closing out the front row will be the soon-to-be ex-Yamaha riders, Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri who were 3rd and 4th respectively.
Checa and Laverty have yet to announce for which teams they’ll be riding for next season.
Opening the second row will be Effenbert Liberty’s duo Sylvain Guintoli and Jakub Smrz.
While Joan Lascorz finally had a decent Superpole session and outqualified Kawasaki team mate Tom Sykes for 7th, while Noriyuki Haga was the best rider for Aprilia, albeit for the Pata team in 8th, as Aprilia factory riders Leon Camier didn’t make it out of SP2 and was 12th while team mate Max Biaggi didn’t qualify for the Superpole and he will be taking off in 17th.
Ayrton Badovini was the highest place BMW rider with his 9th spot, while Tom Sykes took 10th after both were bumped out in the last seconds of SP2 by Lascorz and Guintoli.
WSBK Portimao Superpole results:1.
Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1′41.
7122.
Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′41.
9513.
Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 1′42.
1734.
Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) Yamaha YZF R1 1′42.
2595.
Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′42.
6276.
Jakub Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′42.
7107.
Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′43.
2828.
Noriyuki Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′43.
3079.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 1′42.
64510.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′42.
74011.
Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′42.
87912.
Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′43.
01213.
Maxime Berger (Supersonic Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′43.
30614.
Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′43.
66115.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′43.
68316.
Mark Aitchison (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′44.
07817.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′43.
90718.
Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′44.
13119.
Karl Muggeridge (Castrol Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1′45.
26820.
Javier Fores (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team) BMW S1000 RR 1′45.
27421.
Joshua Waters (Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′45.
31122.
Santiago Barragan (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′45.
495
