By Glenn Le Santo

Fabien Foret carved his way through the traffic in the dying moments of the final qualifying session to grab the pole position in tomorrow’s World Superpole race at Oschersleben, Germany. Foret’s Ten Kate Honda teammate Pere Riba got caught in traffic and finished the session in third.

“My first two splits on my fast lap were quicker than Foret’s, but I got held up in the last section and it ruined my time,” explained Riba. “But I am happy with the front-row start and my bike is working very well so I am confident for the race.”

Adam Fergusson’s time of 1:30.894, set on Friday, was enough to keep him up in second on the grid. He crashed heavily, without injury, early in Saturday’s final qualifying session and was
forced to finish qualifying on his number two bike.

“I am very happy with pole,” said Foret. “I didn’t know I had made pole after the lap, I had my laptimer switched off and I got caught behind another rider in the chicane so I didn’t think I had made such a fast lap.”

Foret’s time was indeed fast, at 1:30.620.

Kawasaki’s Andrew Pitt completes up the front row. Championship leader Jorge Teuchert qualified seventh on his Yamaha.

The session had been interrupted by a five-bike crash. Chris Vermeulen was first to go down, apparently on oil, although later the officials said they had been unable to find any traces of oil. But as four more bikes followed Vermeulen’s Honda into the gravel immediately after his crash, all at the same spot, it seems there must have been some substance on the circuit causing the riders to go down! No one was injured in the incident.

Final World Supersport qualifying times:

1. Fabien Foret, France, Honda, 1:30.620
2. Adam Fergusson, Australia, Honda, 1:30.894
3. Pere Riba, Spain, Honda, 1:30.907
4. Andrew Pitt, Australia, Kawasaki, 1:30.947
5. Christian Kellner, Germany, Yamaha, 1:30.995
6. Michael Shulten, Germany, Yamaha, 1:31.018
7. Jorg Teuchert, Germany, Yamaha, 1:31.038
8. Christophe Cogan, France, Yamaha, 1:31.094
9. Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki, 1:31.099
10. Paolo Casoli, Italy, Yamaha, 1:31.130