Tom Sykes Atop the Leaderboard After Day 1 at Silverstone Round 10 of the 2012 eni SBK World Championship

Sykes the top man at home on the opening day

Silverstone (UK), August 3 2012– Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) posted the fastest lap of the first qualifying session at Silverstone in 2 minutes 06.115 seconds, heading off Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) in the process. The session was held on a basically dry track, with the fastest lap times just over two seconds from the absolute best.

Tom Sykes on the #66 Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R again looked like the man to beat in day one activities at the Silverstone circuit.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

Third place in the early rankings went to new Pata Racing Team Ducati signing Sylvain Guintoli while local favourite Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) pushed himself to fourth place and was followed home by another British competitor Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia). Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) was sixth and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) slotted into seventh. The provisional front row was completed by Guintoli’s Pata team-mate, Lorenzo Zanetti.

Defending World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa slotted into the 2nd-place spot on the #7 Althea Racing Ducati 1098R during day one qualifying at Silverstone.  Checa was only .033 seconds behind fast man Sykes after the end of first day activities.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

With weather conditions expected to be changeable over race weekend, qualifying inside the top 16 today may prove important if the second and final session on Saturday morning finally proves to be wet. Many top names ended up down the order on day one, with Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 12^th and Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) 17^th, one position up on Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team).

Times:1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 2'06.115 average 168.475 kph; 2.Checa (Ducati) 2'06.148; 3. Guintoli (Ducati) 2'06.576; 4. Camier (Suzuki) 2'06.617; 5. Davies (Aprilia) 2'06.684; 6. Smrz (Ducati) 2'06.795; 7. Laverty (Aprilia) 2'06.851; 8. Zanetti (Ducati) 2'06.869; 9. Berger (Ducati) 2'06.967; 10. Hopkins (Suzuki) 2'07.007; 11. Badovini (BMW) 2'07.089; 12. Melandri (BMW) 2'07.244; 13. Haslam (BMW) 2'07.401; 14. Canepa (Ducati) 2'07.404; 15. Baz (Kawasaki) 2'07.499; 16.Fabrizio (BMW) 2'07.658; etc.

World Supersport

A confident session in wet conditions from Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) saw him head the first qualifying times in the Supersport class, the French rider heading off local man Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) by 0.739 with a time of 2 minutes 23.241 seconds. Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Lorenzini) made himself the fastest Kawasaki rider in third place, while Alex Baldolini (Power Team by Suriano Triumph) gave his British machine a happy early homecoming by qualifying fourth of all 32 Supersport entrants. Mathew Scholtz (Bogdanka PTR Honda) enjoyed a great first qualifying session by going fifth, with recent Brno podium finisher Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda), sixth.

 

Jules Cluzel topped the time charts today in the World Supersport class on the #16 PTR Honda CBR600RR at the Silverstone circuit.  Photo courtesy of the eni SBK World Championship.

Times:1. Cluzel (Honda) 2'23.241 average 148.332 kph; 2. Lowes (Honda) 2'23.980; 3. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2'25.235; 4. Baldolini (Triumph) 2'26.656; 5. Scholtz (Honda) 2'27.072; 6. Parkes (Honda) 2'27.177; 7. Leonov (Yamaha) 2'27.302; 8. Day (Kawasaki) 2'27.455; etc.

Superstock 1000

Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) posted a great lap of two minutes 18.265 seconds at Silverstone in the first qualifying session to lead the next closest rider Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) by over two seconds on a damp track surface. A cosmopolitan top three included Eddi La Marra on his Barni Racing Ducati Panigale 1199. Having moved from Superbike to Superstock for this round, Leandro Mercado (Pedercini Team Kawasaki) was fourth. Ondrej Jezek (SK Energy Racing Team Ducati) went fifth, with local rider for a local team Kevin Coghlan (DMC Racing Ducati) sixth.

Times: 1. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 2'18.265 average 153.670 kph; 2.Barrier (BMW) 2'20.431; 3. La Marra (Ducati) 2'22.632; 4. Mercado (Kawasaki) 2'23.833; 5. Jezek (Ducati) 2'24.111; 6. Coghlan (Ducati) 2'24.982; 7. Lussiana (Kawasaki) 2'25.616; 8. Savadori (Ducati) 2'25.644; etc.

Superstock 600

Team GOELEVEN Kawasaki rider Matt Davies was fastest man in a wet qualifying session at Silverstone, picking a clean line in tricky conditions to go over a second quicker than the next fastest rider Lee Jackson (Chris Walker Race School Kawasaki). MTM Racing Yamaha’s Gauthier Duwelz secured a strong third place, from another top regular, EAB Ten Kate Junior Honda Team man Michael van der Mark. Christophe Ponsson (MRS Kawasaki) put himself fifth in the early qualifying rankings.

Times: 1. Davies (Kawasaki) 2'31.473 average 140.271 kph; 2. Jackson (Kawasaki) 2'32.591; 3. Duwelz (Yamaha) 2'32.806; 4. Vd Mark (Honda) 2'33.514; 5. Ponsson (Kawasaki) 2'34.691; 6. Salvadori (Yamaha) 2'35.981; 7. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 2'36.507; 8. Vitali (Yamaha) 2'36.598; etc.

KTM European Junior Cup

Lukas Wimmer continued the recent run of good form that has taken him to the top of the table with the quickest time in the European Junior Cup’s sole free practice session for KTM Duke 690 machines at Silverstone. The young Austrian was half-a-second clear of his closest rival Javier Orellana, while another Spanish rider, Gaston Garcia, was a fraction behind in third, with Jean-Francois Demoulin from France in fourth.

Times: 1. Wimmer (KTM) 2'27.737 average 143.818 kph; 2. Orellana (KTM) 2'28.293; 3. Garcia (KTM) 2'28.401; 4.Demoulin (KTM) 2'28.986; 5. Pasek (KTM) 2'28.996; 6. Patterson (KTM) 2'29.539; 7. Daley (KTM) 2'29.799; 8.Wielebski (KTM) 2'31.020; etc.

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