Kawasaki's Tom Sykes took charge at the top of the World Superbike timesheets for the second qualifying session at Motorland Aragon this morning, and was the only man to go under the 1'58s barrier.
Sykes put in a series of fast laps which ended five minutes from the finish with a 1'57.785 but he had also put in a 1'57.903 half an hour earlier while no-one else could break into the 1'57s.
Aprilia's Eugene Laverty raised the bar in terms of top speed on his way to second fastest, clocking 204.4mph on his way to a 1'58.029 lap time and Pata Honda's Jonathan Rea snuck into third with his last lap of 1'58.090. Team mate Leon Haslam crashed early in the session but his team couldn't get the bike back together in time for the Derbyshire man to put in any laps.
Chaz Davies fended off a charge from Davide Guigliano to keep fifth place while Sylvain Guintoli, on the second works Aprilia, was sixth. Marco Melandri and Loris Baz are next along and more than a second off the pace.
Leon Camier remains on the timesheet in ninth but he will not take part after having surgery on his leg last night (click here). His team-mate Jules Cluzel was tenth ahead of Michel Fabrizio and Haslam. Carlos Checa was 13th and nearly two seconds off the pace.
