Kawasaki's Tom Sykes just held off a spirited charge by Leon Camier to head the first World Superbike free practice timesheet at Donington Park this lunchtime.
The Huddersfield man lapped in 1'30.756 in very cool conditions to bag top spot but Camier, on the Fixi Suzuki, was less than a tenth of a second behind Sykes for second while serial qualifier Jakub Smrz took third late on with a 1'30.842 on his Liberty Ducati.
Goldbet BMW's Michel Fabrizio just edged out the factory BMW of Marco Melandri for fourth place but he is only a tenth off the pace with Leon Haslam in sixth. Max Biaggi is the first of the Aprilias in seventh with countryman Ayrton Badovini in eighth.
Sylvain Guintoli parked his Liberty Ducati in ninth while Jonathan Rea survived a first-lap crash at Foggy's to come back into tenth place. The Irishman is a little under half a second off Sykes' pace.
Reigning champion Carlos Checa, who also crashed at Foggy's is in 11th, just ahead of Chaz Davies. Maxime Berger, Davide Guigliano and Eugene Laverty round out the top 15 with only 1.2s covering first to 15th.
Peter Hickman took the second Fixi Suzuki into 17th while Gary Mason was 20th.
