Sykes interrupts Checa's dominant run
The second day of official testing at Phillip Island started off with a surprise this morning as Tom Sykes powered his Kawasaki to the top slot. The British rider set a time of 1 minute 31.648 seconds on cooler tarmac early in the session to depose Althea Racing Ducati's Carlos Checa from the position he has held virtually since the start of last week's private testing. The reigning world champion's time was just 0.004 seconds slower than Sykes.
Closer to the front was another Ducati, the Liberty Racing Team Effenbert version of Jakub Smrz, who whittled his time down to 1'31"800. Fourth place went to Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) who crashed at the fast Lukey Heights section of the track, but without any harm to the rider. Next up was Max Biaggi (Aprilia) who shaved a further tenth off his yesterday time to finish with a 1'32"034.
Meanwhile Leon Haslam, who crashed yesterday, has returned to hospital: the doctors are deciding if and how to operate on his right leg tibia fracture.
The afternoon session from 1330 to 1500 local time will end these two days of pre-race testing.
Superbike - Tuesday 1st session
1 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'31.648
2 7 Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'31.652
3 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1'31.800
4 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'31.913
5 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'32.034
6 33 Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.281
7 34 Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.319
8 2 Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'32.320
9 50 Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.347
10 17 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'32.540
11 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.605
12 59 Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.746
13 4 Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'32.910
14 121 Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1'32.911
15 86 Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1'32.948
16 87 Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'33.136
17 44 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'33.385
18 67 Staring B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'33.418
19 19 Davies C. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'33.561
20 25 Brookes J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'33.623
21 35 De Rosa R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.341
22 18 Aitchison M. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'34.634
