There was a return to the front of the grid for Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship as he claimed pole position for the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”. Buis claimed pole position by just 0.041s ahead of Alessandro Zanca (Team#109 Kawasaki) who took his best ever WorldSSP300 Tissot Superpole result to start from the first row.

THREE YEARS IN THE MAKING: a second pole position for Buis

Buis posted his time of 1’49.297s in the early stages of the 20-minute session and his time remained unbeaten throughout the session, while rival Zanca waited until the final moments to post his best time of the session. Zanca claimed his first front row start in WorldSSP300 with second place while Julio Garcia (Team Flembbo – PI Performances) will start from third and, like Zanca, claimed his first front row start of his WorldSSP300 career after setting a 1’49.573s.

BEST RESULTS: riders looking strong in Italy

Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing BGR) took fourth in the Tissot Superpole session but he will have a three-place grid penalty for Race 1 for irresponsible riding in Free Practice 1. Rookie Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) ensured both MTM Kawasaki machines finished in the top six in Superpole with fifth place, ahead of Samuel Di Sora (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) in sixth. The Frenchman was unable to set a lap time towards the end of the session after he had a Turn 6 crash.

FIGHTING BACK: can the Championship leader make gains?

Championship leader Petr Svoboda (Fusport – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) took seventh place as he looks to maintain or extend his Championship lead over the Emilia-Romagna Round. He set a 1’49.804s, the exact same time as wildcard Bruno Ieraci (ProDina Kawasaki Racing), but due to Svoboda’s second best lap time being quicker he will start ahead of the Italian rider. German rider Dirk Geiger (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) took ninth place in Superpole ahead of Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) who rounded out the top ten.

HOUSEKEEPING: to note from WorldSSP300 Superpole

Two other riders will carry penalties into Race 1. Devis Bergamini (ProGP Racing) and teammate Ioannis Peristeras both will have a three-place grid penalty for Race 1 after being penalised for irresponsible riding in FP1 after they took 29^th and 30^th in the Superpole session; the final two classified riders in the session. Junhao Zhan (China Racing Team), making his debut at Misano, crashed at Turn 6 in the early part of the session. He re-joined later on after his bike was checked by his mechanics, but his best time was a 1’56.572s; outside 105% of Buis’ time.

The top six from WorldSSP300 Superpole, full results here:

1. Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) 1’49.297

2. Alessandro Zanca (Team#109 Kawasaki) +0.041s

3. Julio Garcia (Team Fkembbo-PI Performances) +0.276s

4. Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing BGR) +0.325s

5. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) +0.367s

6. Samuel Di Sora (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) +0.394s

Watch more WorldSSP300 Race 1 at 12:40 Local Time (GMT+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!