Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes just held on to top spot in the opening World Superbike free practice session at Jerez this morning despite a late charge from team-mate and world champion-elect Jonathan Rea in the dying minutes.
Sykes was fast out of the blocks, setting a 1’42.049 early on before settling down to work on some distance runs before upping the ante with 15 minutes left, lapping at 1’41.957 to stay ahead of the flying Welshman Chaz Davies, sitting in second with a 1’42.056, just fractions faster than Rea in third on a 1’42.062.
But as the seconds ticked closer to the chequered flag, Rea’s final run saw him leapfrog Davies with a 1’42.016 and he then cemented second with his best of a 1’41.981 to end just 0.024s behind Sykes with Davies’ Ducati staying in third.
Althea Ducati’s Nico Canepa charged into fourth place with his last lap of the session, setting a 1’42.125 which was enough to sneak ahead of the Aprilias of Jordi Torres and Leon Haslam. The Spaniard set a 1’42.249, just 0.005s faster than Haslam who had Matteo Baiocco for company in seventh place.
Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, who rode the MotoGP GP15 at Misano last weekend, ended in eighth place with the Pata Hondas of Sylvain Guintoli and Michael Van Der Mark completing the top ten.
Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes finished in 11th place after completing just 13 laps. Leon Camier is again struggling with the MV Agusta and he finished in 16th place but only 1.6s off the pace.
