Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes left it till his last lap to climb to the top of the World Superbike free practice time-sheets at Portimao. In the opening session the Huddersfield rider clocked a 1’44.241 lap storming his way from fifth to first with less than a minute remaining out on track.
Sykes was not the only rider to leave it to their last lap to set a quick time, Red Devils Roma rider Michel Fabrizio was not far off the Kawasaki’s pace and rode a 1’44.328 time to end the morning the second fastest bike out on the Portuguese circuit.
Fabrizio was closely followed by Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea. The Isle of Man resident was only 0.2 seconds off Sykes’ time and ended the session with a 1’44.453 lap, resulting in the rider finishing third on the time-sheets.
GoldBet BMW rider Chaz Davies managed to get the better of team-mate Marco Melandri on his last lap. During the free practice session Melandri looked like he would remain the fastest rider out on track, as with twenty minutes remaining clocked a 1’44.512 and appeared unbeatable, but with less than a few second to go before the session came to an end, was pushed down to fifth, with Davies proving to be that little bit faster on his BMW, with a time of 1’44.462.
Aprilia team-mates Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty were consistent throughout free practice and were not far off Melandri’s pace, and with less than ten minutes remaining were setting lap times that safely placed them inside the top three on the time-sheets. But when the chequered flag appeared they found themselves sixth and seventh, with Frenchman Guintoli and second faster than Laverty with a time of 1’44.669.
Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier did find himself with the second fastest time on only his second lap, but could not find the pace to compete with the rest of the grid, and ended the session tenth fastest, just in front of Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa and Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam.
Both the Spaniard and the Brit were nursing injuries during the last round at Donington Park two weeks ago, with Haslam having to pull out of the main races with a leg injury, and Checa only managed to complete one race at Donington, as he was still recovering from a shoulder injury. This morning Haslam finished in twelfth overall, with a 1’45.384 lap.
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