Aaron Slight takes pole position

JAKARTA (JP): Aaron Slight took the pole position for today's World Superbike Championship race at the Sentul circuit, Bogor, West Java despite his below par performance in the second qualifying race yesterday.

Riding on Honda, the New Zealander clocked a lackluster time of one minute 39.961 seconds to finish sixth in the second qualifying race yesterday. Nobody, however, beat his best time of 1:28.028 he set in the first race on Friday.

Slight is now chasing a win to secure a consoling runner-up place in the world championship standings. He collected 249 points to place third behind Australian Corser Troy who will start from the third grid in today's race.

English world champion Carl Fogarty, on his Ducati, will start behind Slight, but he remains a hot favorite to continue his winning streak today.

Fogarty collected an unbeatable 420 points after the 11th race to retain his crown.

Dadan Nugroho saved Indonesia from blushing when clocking 1:36.060 to become the only host rider to qualify for the world championship race, the penultimate and 12th leg of the world series. Dadan managed only the rear position among 23 riders who will compare their skills today. (amd)