SBK World Championship Donington Park Day 1 Happenings

Smrz the smartest out of the blocks at Donington Donington (UK), Friday 11 May 2012 – Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati) loves Donington Park and today it loved him right back as he took provisional pole after posting the fastest lap in the opening qualifying session. After the rain flags came out momentarily at the start of the 45-minute session track conditions improved and a flurry of fast times in the last few minutes of qualifying put Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) second, Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) third and true home boy Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) fourth. Rea had two falls today, one shortly after the start of this morning’s free session and one at the end of this afternoon’s qualifying run, without injury. Jakub Smrz put the #96 Liberty Racing Team Effenbert Ducati 1098R on top of the leaderboard for first round qualifying at Donington Park today in round 5 of the SBK World Championship.  Photo courtesy of the SBK World Championship. British riders were, predictably, to the fore, as Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) was fifth and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing team) sixth. Sykes had headed up the first unofficial practice session in the morning. The overnight second row was completed by Michel Fabrizio’s BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet machine, and the first Aprilia Racing entry in the rankings, ridden by 2010 champion Max Biaggi. Two local riders were given the opportunity to run as wildcards at Donington, with Peter Hickman (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) in 17th place and Gary Mason (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) 23rd. New Kawasaki Racing Team rider Loris Baz was 20th in his first ever SBK qualifying session. One more regulation qualifying session remains tomorrow, before the top 16 riders move on to Tissot-Superpole. Times: 1. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'29.336; 2. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'29.394; 3. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'29.507; 4. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1'29.604; 5. Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'29.614; 6. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'29.719; 7. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'29.918; 8. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'29.973; 9. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'29.977; 10. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'29.986; 11. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'30.225; 12. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'30.245; 13. Davies C. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'30.392; 14. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'30.522; 15. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'30.539; 16. Laverty E. (IRL) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'30.577; etc. World Supersport Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) came close to setting a new best lap in the Supersport World Championship class during the first qualifying session at Donington. By grabbing provisional pole with his 1 minute 31.155 second lap time he was almost a second ahead of Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) and just over a second ahead of Monza race winner Jules Cluzel (Honda PTR). Wildcard Australian team-mates Glen Richards and Billy McConnell (Smiths Gloucester Triumph) were fourth and fifth respectively. Ronan Quarmby (PTR Honda) and Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) were the last riders into the 1 minute 32 seconds lap times. Sam Lowes on the #1 Bogdanka PTR Honda CBR600RR lead the time sheets at Donington Park for the World Supersport Series round.  Photo courtesy of the SBK World Championship. Times: 1. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1'31.155; 2. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'32.053; 3. Cluzel J. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1'32.281; 4. Richards G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 1'32.397; 5. McConnell B. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 1'32.505; 6. Quarmby R. (RSA) Honda CBR600RR 1'32.724; 7. Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1'32.856; 8. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'33.064; etc. For further information: Julian Thomas Press Office Associate Manager Cell. +39 340 0993623 Email: julian.thomas@infrontsports.com Nino Barra Press Office & PR ItaliaCell. +39 339 4688138 Email: nino.barra@infrontsports.com Valentina Conti Sponsorship & Int’l PR Associate Manager Cell. +39 388 3032059 Email: valentina.conti@infrontsports.com In 2011 the FIM Superbike World Championship achieved the following: - A worldwide TV audience of 462 million - Live broadcasts on 95 television networks covering 173 countries - 3,106 broadcast hours - Approximately 1,000,000 race spectators - 3,779,237 contacts on the official website www.worldsbk.com