Melandri to start on pole in Spain

Marco Melandri will start from pole position for the inaugural Motorland Aragon round of the Superbike World Championship.

The factory Yamaha rider won superpole three with a fastest lap of minute 57.634 seconds.
Melandri edged out fellow Italian and defending champion Max Biaggi on the Alitalia Aprilia whose team-mate Leon Camier was third fastest ahead of championship leader Carlos Checa on the Althea Ducati.
Checa leads the championship standings on 245 points, 72 ahead of Biaggi and a further 20 in front of Melandri, and is well placed on the front row to extend that advantage on Sunday.
Kawasaki Racing's Tom Sykes will be joined on the second row by Melandri's team-mate Eugene Laverty, Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing) and Ayrton Badovini (BMW Italia).
Row three sees Nori Haga (Pata Aprilia) joined by Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert Ducati), Michel Fabrizio (Alstare Suzuki) and Mark Aitchison (Pedercini Kawasaki).
Factory BMW rider Leon Haslam, a pre-season championship favourite currently lying fifth a huge 139 points behind Checa, saw his struggles continue as he was down in 14th.

Checa revealed an error cost him the chance of qualifying higher up the grid, but he expects better on Sunday as he chases a third perfect weekend in a successions after double wins at both Miller Motorsports Park and Misano.
"Today [Saturday] a few of the other riders went really well," said the Spaniard.
"We knew we had the pace needed to finish on the front row and we did it. Unfortunately I made a small mistake at one point in the final Superpole phase and without that I think I could have gone a few tenths faster.
"Anyway we are satisfied to be on the front row and I'm feeling confident ahead of the races because we've shown that we have strong pace.
"All that's left is to select the best tyre for the races, but we'll wait to see exactly what conditions and temperatures are like tomorrow [Sunday] before making a decision.