WSS Phillip Island: Lowes cruises to pole

Sam Lowes has cruised to his first pole position of 2013 on his Yakhnich Yamaha, with his time from qualifying 1 good enough to ensure that no one could match him in the second session.

His blistering lap in Q1, the fastest 600 lap ever of the coastal circuit, was over a second faster than his nearest rival, Kenan Sofuoglu, and despite Lowes not improving it in Q2, the Turk could only close to within 6 tenths of a second.

Sofuoglu’s Mahi Kawasaki teammate Fabian Foret was third with rookie Michael an der Mark fourth on his Pata ten Kane Honda.

Fifth was fellow rookie Irishman Jack Kennedy, surprising many people by putting his underrated Rivamoto Honda around only 0.2 seconds off a front row position.

MotoGP refugee Robbie Rolfo was seventh on the first WSS outing for the ParkinGo MV Agusta F3, while Brit Kev Coghlan was ninth on his ZX-6 and Rolfo’s MV Agusta teammate Christian Iddon was 13th.

WSS Combined Qualifying

1. Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport) Yamaha YZF R6 1’32.545
2. Kenan Sofuoglu (MAHI Racing Team India) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’33.157
3. Fabien Foret (MAHI Racing Team India) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’33.721
4. Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) Honda CBR600RR 1’33.802
5. Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto) Honda CBR600RR 1’33.896
6. David Salom (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpress) 1’33.965
7. Roberto Rolfo (ParkinGo MV Agusta Corse) MV Agusta F3 675 1’34.081
8. Andrea Antonelli (Team Goeleven) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’34.359
9. Kev Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’34.393
10. Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport) Honda CBR600RR 1’34.465
13. Christian Iddon (ParkinGo MV Agusta Corse) MV Agusta F3 675 1’34.551