Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea was not going to be out-paced by any other rider in the second World Superbike free practice session at Aragon this afternoon. But at one point it looked like Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes would be the one who would clinch the accolade of being the fastest man out on track today.
His reign at the top of the timesheets was not to last as Rea clocked a 1’58.180 going three tenths of a second faster than the current champ - just as the chequered flag appeared at the side of the Spanish circuit.
After the initial ten minutes of the second session Sykes made an impact and clocked a 1’58.487 – but it was not enough to de-throne Rea from the top of the timesheets, after his best time of 1'58.449 earlier in the day, and Sykes had to remain in second spot for the time being. But that was only going to last a few minutes and he put in a 1’58.417 to push Rea down to second on the timing screens, with only eight minutes left to the final outing of the day, going 0.032 seconds faster than the Northern Irishman.
With just over twenty minutes remaining Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam forced his way up the timesheets – and inside the top ten, with a 1’59.583, pushing Voltcom Suzuki duo Eugene Laverty and Alex Lowes out of the top ten.
The battle for a top three place began to hot up as Kawasaki’s Loris Baz decided to get in the mix, with the Aprilia’s of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli and Ducati team-mates of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies. Baz tried to emulate his Kawasaki colleague but could only manage third on the timing screens after his final lap of 1’58.579, only for Davies to pip him to the post by one four-thousandths of a second to snatch a provisional front row. Baz and Giugliano rounded off the top five.
Althea Racing’s Niccolo Canepa put in an impressive performance and was the leading EVO bike out there on track, and half way through the session got the better of both Suzuki’s after a 1’59.861. But Laverty was not down for long and moment’s later put in a 1’59.442 to go eighth fastest – pushing Haslam down to ninth. When the chequered flag came out that is how it stayed even though Canepa crashed in the final minute at turn 16 but was unhurt, with Lowes ending the day in eleventh with his best time of 2’00.309.
BMW Motorrad stand-in Leon Camier did improve his race pace from this morning’s outing. The Kent rider on the EVO bike, who’s riding in the place of Sylvain Barrier while he recovers from a road accident, bettered his time by over a second. He ended the afternoon fourteenth after a 2’00.966 lap.
Alstare’s Christian Iddon was another Englishman who went a second faster in the second World Superbike free practice session. His Bimota BB3 Evo machine was able to lap a 2’02.709 – meaning he ended the day 21st overall.
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