Haslam Claims Provisional Pole - Day 1 at Portimao

Leon Haslam, Suzuki Alstare, went into today’s events in Portimao, Portugal the point leader in the World Superbike series. After the first day’s qualifying round, Haslam makes himself the man to catch as he captures the provisional pole with a 1’43”46 time.

"It is all feeling good here even though we are not as quick as we were at the winter test. We did a lot of laps on the same tyre to get ready for the race and it is pretty satisfying to be fast on the first day," said Haslam.

Michele Fabrizio, Ducati Xerox, who was on the losing end of the closest finish in WSBK history during the opening round f the 2010 season at Phillip Island, suffered another close loss during the first qualifying session. Fabrizio finished just .03 seconds behind Haslam.

"I only really got the chance to go for one quick lap time in the session but with a couple of more chances I think I could have gone faster,” said Fabrizio. “We worked well on the set-up today for the race and I am relaxed and confident that we will go even faster tomorrow."

Carlos Checa, Ducati Althea, who won the second race at Phillip Island came in third today at Portimao.

"We worked in the morning session to find a good set-up and as soon as we used the softer tyre in the afternoon session we were something like one second faster,” said Checa. “We are only losing some time in the final split so we are now working on how to make that up."

The top three riders going into today’s race, Haslam, Fabrizio, and Checa, remain at the top at the end of the first qualifying session at Portimao, Portugal.

Max Biaggio came in a close fourth place, and two time WSBK chamption James Toseland came in fifth.

1  91 Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'43.476
2  84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'43.508
3   7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'43.645
4   3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1'43.688
5  52 Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'43.735
6  35 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'43.769
7  67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'43.881
8  96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'43.932
9   2 Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1'44.041
10  65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'44.042
11  41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1'44.098
12  11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'44.203
13  76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR1000RR 1'44.272
14  50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'44.423
15  66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'44.559
16  57 Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'44.851
17  88 Pitt A. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'44.852
18  99 Scassa L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'45.368
19 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'45.406
20  49 Tamada M. (JPN) BMW S1000 RR 1'45.522
21  32 Morais S. (RSA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'45.933
22  15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'46.096
23  95 Hayden R. (USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'46.657
24  31 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'47.805