Samsung Suzuki's John Hopkins has put his wildcard GSX-R1000 at the top of the World Superbike qualifying timesheets at Silverstone this morning, putting in his fastest lap of the weekend so far just as the chequered flag came out.
Hopkins went round in 2'05.058 to just topple the Althea Ducati of Carlos Checa by 0.045s with Liberty Ducati's Syvlain Guintoli also banging in a late lap to take third place away from Maxine Berger, the third Ducati on the provisional front row.
Works Yamaha's Marco Melandri was able to just keep the Alitalia Aprilia of Leon Camier in front of him for fifth but after he had a near-collision with team-mate Max Biaggi right at the top of the session as the young Italian put a hard-ish pass on the Roman Emperor.
Michel Fabrizio edged Leon Haslam into eighth place while Noriyuki Haga has found some pace overnight, jumping into ninth with Eugene Laverty tenth and Tom Sykes' PBM Kawasaki 11th. James Toseland used his last lap to just make it into Superpole this afternoon, finishing in 14th while Biaggi is one place behind the two-time world champion. Alex Lowes crashed unhurt and ended in 18th while Jon Kirkham was 22nd.
