Yamaha Factory Racing will start the Suzuka 8 Hours from pole position after a stunning Superpole lap from MotoGP's Pol Espargaro. Despite being unfamiliar with the single lap Superpole format, the Spaniard - the 13th of 20 riders to take his turn on track - blasted to a record time of 2m 6.000s. That was over one-second faster than his Friday qualifying best and proved too much for the others to match, although team-mate Katsuyuki Nakasuga got to within just 0.059s of Espargaro's effort. But since only the best lap time from each team determines grid position, the #21 machine took pole by 0.287s over Kawasaki's Kazuki Watanabe, who had been fastest heading into Superpole. “It was...
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