Factory Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty had to settle for second during World Superbike qualifying practice at Phillip Island today. The Northern Irishman did hold the fastest lap time, until the dying minutes when Red Devils Roma rider Michel Fabrizio claimed the top spot.
The Italian was the fastest around the track in free practice this afternoon, and was able to emulate topping the timing boards for a second session by setting a lap time of 1'31.317. Laverty was not far off the pace with his fastest lap of 1'31.392.
“This morning we weren't extremely fast, but in the afternoon we made some changes on my RSV4 to adapt it to the conditions and we took a big step forward. My single lap is good, but the key is to maintain consistency for the entire race. There are a lot of riders who don't stand out in the single lap but they've got an excellent race pace, and we're also doing well in that department. I don't have any particular problems and even when I'm lapping fast I'm careful not to wear the tyres quickly so that helps me to be consistent," said the Ulsterman.
Goldbet BMW’s Marco Melandri rounded out the top three with a lap time of 1'31.539, but close behind him was British rider, Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier, meaning provisional front two rows for both Camier and Laverty under the new three-bikes-per-row rules
Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam was not able to reclaim his top two position from earlier in the day and had to settle for sixth in the session, four places higher than team-mate Jonathan Rea. Chaz Davies could not go faster than team-mate Melandri in the and the Welshman finished in the top five. Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes was not far behind the other British riders and completed the session in seventh place.
Former World Superbike champion Alstare Ducati rider Carlos Checa only completed seven laps at the Australian track, with reports suggesting that he had to pull into the pits because he was feeling dizzy after a monster highside on the exit of Siberia in the morning session. This comes after Checa was in hospital last week with a blocked intestine.
