Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes picked up where he left off yesterday, and put in another dominant World Superbike rookie performance in the final timed free practice session before qualifying. On his fourth lap he bettered his time set in FP2 by nearly a second, to clock a 1’30.886 with 35 minutes of lap time remaining.

But bang on the thirty minute mark, his team-mate Eugene Laverty went one one-hundredths of a second quicker than the Derby-based lad, to top the timesheets, with a 1’30.875. But ten minutes later, Lowes got one back on the Irishman and went three tenths of a second faster with a 1’30.566 lap.

But with twenty minutes of track time left, Lowes crashed, at Turn 11, while topping the timing screens, and that is where the Lincolnshire-born rider remained until the end of the session, comfortably progressing through to qualifying two. Lowes went to the medical centre for a precautionary X-ray on his left ankle, and he is planning to be fit for Superpole.

In the final five remaining minutes there was a flurry of activity. Ducati’s Chaz Davies pulled his way from tenth up to fourth overall, going just one tenth of a second slower than his Italian counterpart, Davide Giugliano, with a 1’30.962.

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes never made it into the top three fastest times, but was never in danger of being outside the top ten. His best lap of 1’30.982 was enough to place him fifth. But 0.1 seconds behind the reigning champ was the EVO machine of Niccolo Canepa. The Althea Racing rider put in an impressive 1’31.065, and is the only EVO bike to progress straight into qualifying two.

Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea left it till the final minutes to make an impact he was able to finish eighth overall with a 1’31.091. But his British team-mate Leon Haslam was pushed out of a top ten place by Davies and ended twelfth on the timing sheets, meaning he will have to battle it out in qualifying one.

Aprilia’s Marco Melandri was fifth quickest overall, until he crashed at Lukey Heights with over half an hour left of FP3, but he was declared OK at the trackside, and ended the day ninth, with Kawasaki’s Loris Baz rounding off the top ten with a 1’31.211.

Entrants for Superpole two:

Lowes

Laverty

Giugliano

Davies

Sykes

Canepa

Guintoli

Rea

Melandri

Baz

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