Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes was once again the fastest rider on track during the second World Superbike free practice session at Donington Park, even after a small crash at Melbourne.
The former champ bettered his earlier free practice time by sixth tenths of a second and was only 0.3s off his own lap record at the track, with a 1’27.927. Initially it was Rea who was the first to throw down the gauntlet to his title rivals and lapped a 1’28.137, and was the first rider to better the time set by Sykes this morning.
But Sykes was not giving up and with 27 minutes on the clock went back into the P1 position, as Rea ran wide at Goddards. The Isle of Man based resident was only 0.04s off the best time set by his rival and a 1’27.966 was more than good enough to place him P2 on the sheets.
Aruba.it Ducati’s Davide Giugliano could not manage a time inside the 1’27’s but a 1’28.303 put his Panigale inside the top three on the timing screens. The Ducati rider was the only Italian inside the top six, and the rest were all Brits.
There was drama early on in FP2, as the Panigale of Chaz Davies caught on fire and he came to an abrupt stop at McLeans. After only a handful of laps he had to quickly jump off the Ducati, and was luckily unhurt. But fortunately the Welshman had done enough in FP1 to make it through to Superpole two tomorrow, as he was fifth fastest in the combined times.
Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes was passed fit by medical staff to take part in the final timed session. The Derby-based racer broke his collarbone during the last round at Sepang, and had an operation to plate it last week. He bravely rode through the pain to better his earlier free practice time from this morning, and finished the day well inside the top ten in fourth overall, with a fast 1’28.602.
MV Agusta’s Leon Camier’s 1’28.910 rotation put him P6, followed by Savadori, Torres, circuit rookie and MotoAmerica champ Cameron Beaubier and Milwaukee BMW’s Karel Abraham, who all made it into the top ten times and a chance to fight for pole in Superpole two.
Both Honda Racing bikes of Nicky Hayden and Michael Van Der Mark failed to make it in to Superpole two and have to battle it out in Superpole one for their chance of challenging for a front row start. The reigning BSB champion, Josh Brookes did improve on his earlier FP1 time by over one second, but was sixteenth fastest on the combined times and could not emulate his team-mate by making it automatically in to Superpole two.
