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The Tissot-Superpole award will once again be presented during the gala awards ceremony in Qatar after the season finale under floodlights and, as ever, the competition to claim the prize is intense with former champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) holding a 12-point lead after overhauling team-mate and championship leader Jonathan Rea in the last two rounds.

In fact, since Aragon, Sykes has not started a race from lower than second on the grid; the Englishman having been on pole at Assen, Donington Park and Misano, while he started second on the grid at Imola and Portimao.

Rea, on the other hand, has seen his lead in the Tissot-Superpole classification diminish and. after starting eighth in Portimao and fourth in Misano. is now under threat from Aprilia’s Leon Haslam who sits third overall and only eight points behind him and only 20 adrift of Sykes. The Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils rider’s only Pole Position of the season so far came at Aragon.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) remains fourth overall in the qualifying chart but he too has faltered of late during Superpole, starting from the front row only once (third in Portimao) in the last five races.

Alex Lowes seems to be able to extract the most from the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki during qualifying, steadily collecting a healthy points tally that keeps him fifth overall ahead of a rejuvenated and rapid Davide Giugliano. The second Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team rider has not qualified lower than third on his return to WorldSBK after his pre-season crash in Australia, and has notched up a pair of Pole Positions in the four events that he has contested so far in 2015: Imola and Portimao. Had he not missed the opening four rounds, the likeable Italian would almost certainly have been in with a shout of the overall prize but, as it stands, his immediate focus is on fourth place, which is a realistic target given he is only 25 points behind team-mate Chaz Davies.

WorldSBK rookies Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) are seventh and eighth in the Tissot-Superpole standings, separated by 15 points. Spaniard Torres has a best start position of fifth in Thailand while reigning World Supersport champion van der Mark started fourth in Australia.

With 125 points still to play for the contest to be the best qualifier is still wide open but, looking at the recent run of qualifying form, one would be brave to bet against Sykes, Rea or Haslam.