Althea Ducati's Carlos Checa has resumed normal service and taken World Superbike provisional pole at a frankly scorching Portimao this afternoon but he was pushed all the way by Yamaha's Eugene Laverty with the Irishman only 0.087 in arrears and Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli a further two-tenths back.
Checa's 1'43.573 is still a full second and a half slower than Cal Crutchlow's best of 1'42.092 set last year but was quicker than Jonathan Rea's fastest lap from this morning's slightly cooler session. The Irishman took the final spot on the provisional front row with a 1'43.895 which had seen him head the timesheet with 18 minutes to go.
Former champion Max Biaggi has found some pace over lunch and jumped into fifth place with a 1'43.907, a second faster than he was this morning while the PBM Kawasaki pair of Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes are sixth and seventh fastest respectively.
Marco Melandri, who is having trouble with Biaggi again, finished in eighth and rounds out the second row. Noriyuki Haga and Jakub Smrz are ninth and tenth while Ayrton Badovini slipped from his lofty perch earlier down to 11th fastest.
BMW's Leon Haslam is not having much fun at the Portugese track and thinks he won't be able to perform many miracles this weekend. He ended the session in 12th with his namesake Camier on place behind. The Alitalia Aprilia man crashed unhurt at the session death. Troy Corser completes the top 15.
