Aragon Friday Results
World Superbike 2013
www.motorcycle-usa.com By Byron Wilson
The first qualifying session of World Superbike Round 2 at Motorland Aragon saw Aprilia
Racing’s Eugene Laverty top the timesheets late in the session, posting
a time of 1’58.548 on his penultimate lap. BMW Motorrad GoldBet’s Chaz Davies trailed by one-tenth of a second with his best
effort while Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes rounded out the top three.
"We worked quite a bit on the electronics today because I wasn't satisfied
with them during free practice this morning, especially going into turns,"
said Laverty. "There is still room for improvement but we're moving
in the right direction and our times show it. We just need to make it easier to
maintain the pace for more laps in view of the race."
Laverty cut over one second off his lap time from the morning’s free practice
session, giving him just enough to slip past Davies, who had occupied the
top-spot for nearly 10 minutes in the latter half of the qualifier. Prior to
Davies’ run, it was Sykes at the top of the heap. The British rider logged a
string of fast laps mid-session, one of which saw him become the first rider on
the grid to dip below 1’59.
Davies’ teammate, Marco Melandri, placed fourth in the qualifier, but put up
his best lap of the day overall in free practice, a 1’58.510. The Italian ace
was the only rider that didn’t improve his pace in qualifying. Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea came in fifth-fastest, just over half a second
off the top time and was followed by Laverty’s teammate, Sylvain Guintoli, in sixth.
Chaz Davies was second-fastest during Friday's qualifier, just one-tenth of a
second behind Laverty.
Leon Camier got three laps into the qualifying session before crashing. He was
forced to seek medical attention, but still managed the seventh-fastest time.
FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s
Leon Camier placed seventh, but only completed three laps
before a crash sent him to the medical center for evaluation. According to FIXI
Crescent Suzuki PR, Camier was transferred to Alcaniz hospital soon after the
on-site assessment due to "serious damage to his left knee." It's
uncertain whether Camier will be able to participate in the remainder
of competition at Aragon.
That third lap proved to be enough to keep him ahead of his teammate, Jules
Cluzel, who trailed Camier by 0.035 in eighth. Sykes’ teammate, Loris Baz, was
ninth-fastest while Althea Racing’s Davide Giugliano rounded out the top-10.
2011 World Superbike champion Carlos Checa, of Team Ducati Alstare, struggled to find his
rhythm and posted a 2’00.004, leaving him in 12th. Ayrton Badovini, also of
Team Ducati Alstare, had a similarly difficult time and ended the day in 14th.
Both riders had race-ending accidents during the first round of 2013, and both
continue to recover from their respective injuries.
World Superbike Aragon Friday Results 2013:
1. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 1’58.548
2. Chaz Davies (BMW) 1’58.652
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’58.887
4. Marco Melandri (BMW) 1’58.994
5. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1’59.060
6. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’59.144
7. Leon Camier (Suzuki) 1’59.379
8. Jules Cluzel (Suzuki) 1’59.414
9. Loris Baz (Kawasaki) 1’59.423
10. Davide Giugliano (Aprilia) 1’59.599
11. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1’59.599
12. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 2’00.004
13. Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia) 2’00.199
14. Ayrton Badovini (Ducati) 2’00.688
15. Alexander Lundh (Kawasaki) 2’01.041
16. Max Neukirchner (Ducati) 2’01.658
17. Federico Sandi (Kawasaki) 2’01.928
18. Vittorio Iannuzzo (BMW) 2’03.201
19. Ivan Clementi (BMW) 2’03.233
20. Mark Aitchison (Ducati) 2’04.169
World Supersport
Yakhnich Motorsport’s Sam Lowes came through as the fastest rider in World
Supersport qualifying, beating out PTR Honda’s Sheridan Morais by almost
half-a-second at the end of the session. Pata Honda World Supersport’s Michael
van der Mark rounded out the top-three.
Van der Mark opened the session with the best effort, but was quickly bested by
MAHI Racing Team India’s Kenan Sofuoglu. Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team’s Kev
Coughlan challenged briefly for the front as well, but these changes were all
confined to the first few minutes of the session. Once Lowes got to the top of
the timesheet, he held steady there to the end.
Sofuoglu posted the fourth-fastest time and was followed by Kawasaki Intermoto
Ponyexpres’ Luca Scassa in fifth and Coughlan in sixth. Coughlan’s teammate,
Vladimir Ivanov was seventh, trailed by Sofuoglu’s teammate, Fabien Foret, in
eighth and Vladimir Leonov in ninth.
World Supersport Aragon Friday Results 2013:
1. Sam Lowes (Yamaha) 2’01.930
2. Sheridan Morais (Honda) 2’02.393
3. Michael van der Mark (Honda) 2’02.524
4. Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2’02.557
5. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki) 2’02.738
6. Kev Coughlan (Kawasaki) 2’03.018
7. Vladimir Ivanov (Kawasaki) 2’03.030
8. Fabien Foret (Kawasaki) 2’03.076
9. Vladimir Leonov (Yamaha) 2’03.083
10. Florian Marino (Kawasaki) 2’03.532
11. Lorenzo Zanetti (Honda) 2’03.583
12. Gabor Talmacsi (Honda) 2’03.660
13. Riccardo Russo (Kawasaki) 2’03.862
14. Jack Kennedy (Honda) 2’03.936
15. Raffaele de Rosa (Honda) 2’03.993
