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At 6 PM the curtain fell on the second day of tests reserved for Superbike in Jerez. If Johnny Rea hogged the limelight yesterday, this time all eyes were on Tom Sykes. The teammate, astride the Kawasaki with 900 rpm chopped off, showed everyone else up with a time of 1’38”889, which was 27 thousandths more than the bar set by the three-time world champion yesterday.
Tom was the only one able to drop below the 1’39” mark today, beating the defending champion by more than half a second (+0.581). The Northern Irishman was not chasing the clock, turning no less than 83 laps, one less than Loris Baz who did the most laps astride his BMW, finishing the day twelfth at almost two seconds behind the leader (+1.818).
In short, the ZX-10RR machines are still out front setting the pace, but behind them there is no lack of surprises. One of the many is Leon Camier on his Honda (+0.719). We can’t help but be pleased to see the Fireblade back up with the best, a protagonist with the fourth best time. That is more than a one second improvement for the Ten Kate rider in whom the team’s hopes and expectations lie. Remember that in Jerez, the bike did not use the much awaited Magneti Marelli ECU, postponing its début until Portimão, scheduled for 28-29 January.
Camier shone, but so did Niccolò Canepa (+0.635) who, on his last available attempt, thought it would be a good idea to move his R1 behind the three-time world champion Kawasaki rider. The Yamaha test rider, reigning Endurance World Champion, surpassed the official riders, Lowes (+1.509) and Van der Mark (+1.643), who finished in eighth and ninth place respectively and were likely none too pleased about that.
Jerez has always been one of his favourite tracks, but this time, Marco Melandri (+0.885) had to settle for the fifth best time and a gap of more than eight tenths behind the leader. Things went even worse for Chaz Davies (+1.834), a result that was one second slower than his teammate’s time. It’s surprising to see the Welshman so far behind, but especially with Michale Ruben Rinaldi’s Ducati hot on his heels, just over a tenth behind on what is his second outing with the Panigale 1299. In Portimão we’ll see if the script changes or not.
On the track with the Ducati V4 was also tester Lorenzo Zanetti, a half a second behind Chaz Davies. Turning our gaze back to the best, Eugene Laverty (+0.987) rode his Aprilia to sixth place, while Jordi Torres and his MV Agusta took an important step forward, shaving more than a second off his Tuesday time, so much that it earned him seventh place (+1.266)
Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu did not make it into the top ten and Lorenzo Savadori finished all the way back in nineteenth place ahead of the Pedercini Kawasaki ridden by Colombian Yonny Hernandez. As for the Supersport riders, on the other hand, Raffaele De Rosa confirmed his status as the fastest with MV Agusta, beating out Kenan Sofuoglu by more than a tenth. Not a bad start.
On Sunday 28 January and Monday 29 January, the riders will be back on the track in Portimão.
