GoldBet BMW’s Marco Melandri topped the timesheets in a wet World Superbike second qualifying practice session, but because of the damp and dark conditions no one was able to match the lap times set by Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes in the opening session yesterday afternoon, so the Brit remains on provisional pole.
Melandri’s best time was 1’47.100, nearly twelve seconds off the pace set by Sykes on Friday and he could not improve on his 1’35.891 only 24 hours before. Some riders were not fazed by the poor conditions, particularly the British contingent. Pata Honda's Leon Haslam was the fastest Englishman on the track this morning, with his 1’48.815 lap, and only one tenth of a second behind the Smalley resident was GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies, Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty and Haslam’s Northern Irish team-mate Jonathan Rea who clocked a 1’49.108.
Sykes was eighth fastest, followed by Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier, with Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa rounding off the top ten. It was not a good session for the former champ, as he succumbed to the wet conditions and crashed with two and a half minutes remaining, after a high side on the back straight causing the practice qualifying to be red flagged. The Italian was then taken to the medical centre.
Checa was not the only rider to fall victim to the slippery conditions; Althea Racing’s Davide Giugliano crashed at turn 1, but was unhurt. He set the second quickest time this morning followed by Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel.
Some racers decided not to venture out at all, Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli stayed in his garage. The Frenchman is still recovering from a dislocated collarbone after crashing his push bike last week, but he did make it out on track yesterday to do enough to get him through to Superpole this afternoon.
But the overall provisional grid places remain the same, as no one this morning was able to go faster than Sykes’ 1’35.567 and the Yorkshire lad is joined on the provisional front row by Italian’s Giugliano and Melandri.
