Adolfo Delgado, a 17-year-old from Mexico, earned pole position for the KTM RC Cup World Final with a lap time of 2:00.375 on a damp-but-drying track surface Saturday at TT Circuit Assen.
“It was a really difficult session,” Delgado exclusively told Roadracingworld.com. “There was a lot of traffic. I pushed hard to pass everybody to get a clear track. I only got a clear track on the last lap, and that was my fastest lap.
“I’m really happy to get pole position, but I’m nervous for the races because I think it will be a hard battle.”
The top-qualifying American rider was 16-year-old Anthony Mazziotto, III, who was able to overcome his bad luck from Friday and turn the 11th-fastest lap at 2:02.311.
“The session went good,” said Mazziotto, who suffered a blown engine and a poorly-running replacement engine during practice on Friday. “That’s the fastest I went all weekend. For my first real session where I’m actually able to ride hard; I’m happy with how it went.”
Mazziotto’s countrymen Brandon Paasch and Ashton Yates weren’t as happy with their qualifying sessions.
“We made a couple of changes that ended up being bad decisions,” said 15-year-old Paasch, after qualifying 12th with a time of 2:02.533. “We thought the session was going to be wet, but it ended up getting a dry line. We added teeth to the rear sprocket, and I was running out of gearing everywhere.”
Yates, meanwhile, crashed in Turn Nine halfway through the session, could not improve on his time of 2:03.116 and ended up 14th.
“I think I’m alright,” said 17-year-old Yates. “My [left] shoulder has some pain in it, but I can move it and everything. It was getting better and better. I was going quicker and quicker. I saw some guys going over the curbs, but when I went in there real hard on the brakes and touched the line I lost the front.”
Race One is scheduled to start at 4:20 p.m. local time.
KTM RC Cup World Final/MCE British Superbike Championship
TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
October 1, 2016
Qualifying Results (damp/drying conditions, all on KTM RC390s and Metzeler tires):
1. Adolfo Delgado, Mexico, 2:00.375
2. Glenn van Straalen, Netherlands, 2:00.417
3. Ryan Vos, Netherlands, 2:00.652
4. Luca de Vleeschauwer, Belgium, 2:00.873*
5. Peetu Paavilainen, Finland, 2:01.024
6. Joep Overbeeke, Netherlands, 2:01.265
7. Finn de Bruin, Netherlands, 2:01.446
8. Kimi Patova, Finland, 2:01.606
9. Jan-Ole Jahnig, Germany, 2:01.806
10. Mate Laczko, Hungary, 2:02.092
11. Anthony Mazziotto, USA, 2:02.311
12. Brandon Paasch, USA, 2:02.533
13. Randy van Hees, Netherlands, 2:03.026
14. Ashton Yates, USA, 2:03.116, crash
15. Jared Schultz, South Africa, 2:03.217
16. Marco Fetz, Germany, 2:03.334
17. Jannik Kruse, Germany, 2:04.482
18. Rick Kooistra, Netherlands, 2:04.936*
19. Scott Swann, UK, 2:05.026
20. Roy Voermans, Netherlands, 2:05.110*
21. Rien den Ouden, Netherlands, 2:05.310*
22. Aaron Wright, UK, 2:05.373
23. Dianne Geesink, Netherlands, 2:05.386*
24. Milan Merckelbagh, Netherlands, 2:05.412
25. Myles Wasley, UK, 2:05.470
26. Nicola Barneba, Italy, 2:06.100
27. Niko Hamalainen, Finland, 2:06.271
28. Alex Dumas, Canada/Mexico, 2:06.421
29. Taylor Fox-Morton, UK, 2:06.488
30. Lorenzo Betton, Italy, 2:07.802
31. Florian Chayne, France, 2:09.191
32. Alexis Cardona, Mexico, 2:09.526
110% of Fastest Time: 2:12.412
33. Jack Nixon, UK, 2:12.500
34. Tijs Heesakkers, Netherlands, 2:13.423*
*not a World Final competitor