Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes set the pace once again in the opening World Superbike qualifying practice session at Assen this afternoon. The Huddersfield rider topped the time-sheets with twenty five minutes to go and even though there was a last minute charge from the likes of Aprilia Racing’s Eugene Laverty and team-mate Sylvain Guintoli it was not enough to topple the Kawasaki rider, who clocked a time of 1’57.190.
Frenchman Guintoli,pushed hard to overthrow Sykes, but ended the session just under a second behind the Englishman with a time of 1’58.824. In the final minute Laverty went all out and was obviously hoping his last lap dash would be enough, but it only pushed him from fourth to third overall with a time of 1’59.068.
GoldBet BMW’s Marco Melandri had a solid session with a lap time of 1’59.316, with Althea Aprilia’s Davide Giugliano rounding off the top five. Ducati Alstare’s Ayrton Badovini was riding high and setting consistently fast lap times, until he crashed on his ninth lap, and even though the Italian was unhurt he did not venture back out on the track.
Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea managed to make it out on to the track for some competitive lap times during the qualifying practice session, compared to only three laps in the morning's session. He finished the day inside the top ten with a time of 2’00.197, closely followed by Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel, and Team Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa. But Rea was without his team-mate Leon Haslam, who broke his leg during the first free practice session earlier this morning.
Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier continued to improve and set a respectable lap time of 2’01.728, considering he was racing around the track with a massive gash in his leg, and the Kent rider ended up rounding off the top ten.
GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies did not end the final qualifying practice session of the day on a high, as he crashed after five laps, and although the Welshman was unhurt he could only managed another two laps after returning from his garage, and finished in fourteenth with a time of 2’03.384.
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