Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies dominated the opening WorldSBK free practice session at Laguna Seca, topping the timesheets by almost seven-tenths of a second from Milwaukee Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty with Marco Melandri third.
The Welshman came out of pitlane with three minutes of the session left to run - shod with a soft rear Pirelli - and dropped his laptime from a 1’24.164 to 1’23.425 as Laverty equipped RSV4 with the same rubber to end on a 1’24.098.
Laverty’s crew said they made a setup step at Misano which is enabling the Monegasque to push hard from the get-go and it is proving true as Laverty’s best was two-tenths faster than Melandri’s who finished the hour with a 1’24.194 that he set some 30 minutes previously.
Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes came out their garages almost together for their final run - presumably also on the softer rear - but couldn’t improve and the reigning world champion ended in fourth with the 1’24.218 he set on his fifth flying lap.
Sykes’ 1’24.347 - also set early doors - fell victim to the flying Leon Camier as he stuck the MV Agusta in in fifth place to finish nine-tenths off his old mate Davies and in front of the former world champion.
BMW’s Jordi Torres put in a late spurt to end in seventh, one ahead of Alex Lowes, who in turn led Red Bull Honda’s Stefan Bradl. Xavi Fores completed the top ten with a 1’24.997 on his last of only 13 laps while Raffaele De Rosa placed 11th on the second Althea S1000RR.
Alex De Angelis was 12th on the Pedercini Kawasaki, just ahead of Roman Ramos. Michael Van Der Mark, who hasn’t ridden Laguna on the R1, was 14th with Tati Mercado 15th. Honda wildcard Jake Gagne was 16th and 2.4s off the pace.
