Michael van der Mark has returned to podium ways by taking third place at the end of the 21-lap opening race of the weekend at Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ in Italy, where the eighth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship is currently underway. His Honda WorldSBK Team mate Nicky Hayden crashed out of third place in the early stages of the race.

In what was an ultra-close Superpole 2, Nicky Hayden claimed sixth place on the grid despite being only 0.084secs away from third place. Michael van der Mark impoved on his FP2 lap time by half a second to take the tenth slot on the grid.

Both Hayden and van der Mark enjoyed a great start to the race and were running fourth and fifth on the opening lap. They were promoted to third and fourth when Giugliano crashed out but shortly afterwards, it was Hayden who low-sided at the last turn before the completion of lap two. Once in third place, van der Mark rode a superb race and maintained a competitive pace up to the chequered flag, claiming his fifth podium of the season despite a strong comeback by fourth-placed Chaz Davies.

Race two will be contested tomorrow from 13:00 local time (GMT +2) and will be preceded by the traditional 15-minute morning warm-up at 9:25.