Submitted by David Emmett on
The Althea Ducati combination Carlos Checa and Shane Byrne kicked off the Imola World Superbike round by controlling the top of the timesheets for most of the first session of free practice for the World Superbike class. Only a brief interruption by Kawasaki's Tom Sykes kept Checa and Byrne from dominating. Xerox Ducati's Michel Fabrizio made it a Ducati 1-2-3, while Ten Kate's Johnny Rea put his Hannspree Honda into 4th. The first blow in the title race was struck by Max Biaggi, who went 0.13 seconds faster than the only man who can stop him from winning his first WSBK crown, Leon Haslam. But with Biaggi in 9th and Haslam in 11th, both the Aprilia and Suzuki man have plenty of work to do.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff |
1 | 7 | C. Checa | Ducati 1098R | 1'49.070 | |
2 | 67 | S. Byrne | Ducati 1098R | 1'49.155 | 0.085 |
3 | 84 | M. Fabrizio | Ducati 1098R | 1'49.364 | 0.294 |
4 | 65 | J. Rea | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'49.434 | 0.364 |
5 | 66 | T. Sykes | Kawasaki ZX 10R | 1'49.554 | 0.484 |
6 | 35 | C. Crutchlow | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'49.608 | 0.538 |
7 | 111 | R. Xaus | BMW S1000 RR | 1'49.674 | 0.604 |
8 | 57 | L. Lanzi | Ducati 1098R | 1'49.829 | 0.759 |
9 | 3 | M. Biaggi | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'49.846 | 0.776 |
10 | 41 | N. Haga | Ducati 1098R | 1'49.865 | 0.795 |
11 | 91 | L. Haslam | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'49.964 | 0.894 |
12 | 11 | T. Corser | BMW S1000 RR | 1'50.179 | 1.109 |
13 | 50 | S. Guintoli | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'50.189 | 1.119 |
14 | 52 | J. Toseland | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'50.282 | 1.212 |
15 | 99 | L. Scassa | Ducati 1098R | 1'50.709 | 1.639 |
16 | 76 | M. Neukirchner | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'50.794 | 1.724 |
17 | 96 | J. Smrz | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'51.006 | 1.936 |
18 | 90 | F. Sandi | Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. | 1'52.605 | 3.535 |
19 | 33 | F. Lai | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'53.015 | 3.945 |
20 | 95 | R. Hayden | Kawasaki ZX 10R | 1'53.022 | 3.952 |
21 | 15 | M. Baiocco | Kawasaki ZX 10R | 1'53.537 | 4.467 |
22 | 5 | I. Lowry | Kawasaki ZX 10R | 1'54.094 | 5.024 |
Comments
... and Haga has some work to do.
Poor guy. A mediocre year where he was a title favorite, uncertain of his ride next year. He must be under so much pressure.
Sykes
I find it peculiar how Sykes can put those kind of lap times with the Kawa.