Sykes back on top after second qualifying, Davies brakes left wrist

Tom Sykes bounced back to the top of the timesheets during second qualifying today with a blistering 1m 31.323s lap – half a second under the 2007 lap record set by Troy Corser.

The factory Kawasaki rider put the free practice crash on Friday behind him and in addition to his outright pace showed good consistency.

Speaking to MCN he said: “It’s good to put the ZX10R on top even if it is only qualifying practice, but to be honest I wasn’t expecting it. We’re not getting carried away though and we’re doing very well on our tyre allocation. We’re doing a lot of work on race tyres, but we need to keep working. I feel strong for the race, my only concern is getting a god start position and a clean first lap because I’m confident we can stay consistent.”

Max Biaggi continued to show impressive outright pace and consistency as did Althea Ducati rider Carlos Checa in third. Fast Czech Jakub Smrz secured fourth place ahead of his Liberty team-mate Sylvan Guintoli making it three Ducati’s in the top five.

Crescent Fixi Suzuki rider Leon Camier put the clutch problems he suffered yesterday behind him and was immediately on the pace. The British team have clearly made a big step in the set-up of the Suzuki and if he can secure a goo Superpole position they remain a dark horse for the race.

Jonathan Re suffered a small crash and was the only one of the top men not to improve on his  first qualifying time – instead he spent the remainder of the session focussing on his race set-up.

Eugene Laverty defied the odds to set the 11th fastest time despite suffering from his hand injury along with a damaged left ankle and knock to the head when he crashed yesterday.

Leon Haslam put in a brave performance after electing to ride with two screws in his ankle. The 28 year old even out qualified his fully fit team-mate Marco Melandri.

It was a disastrous day for Chaz Davies who crashed right at the end of the session whilst holding 15th position. The ParkinGO Aprilia rider high sided at turn two and has been diagnosed with a broken and slightly displaced radius. He is currently in hospital in Melbourne for further examination where he is expected to have an operation.

Phillip Island – SUPERBIKE – Qualifying 2

1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’31.323
2. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’31.477
3. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’31.621
4. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1’31.783
5. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’31.832
6. Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’31.904
7. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1’31.953
8. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’31.959
9. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’31.966
10. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.068
11. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.069
12. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.082
13. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.123
14. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’32.198
15. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.338
16. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.411
17. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’32.576
18. Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.613
19. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.640
20. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.703
21. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1’32.782
22. Joshua Brookes (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’33.384
23. Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1’33.396
24. Raffaele De Rosa (Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda) Honda CBR1000RR 1’33.401
25. David Johnson (Rossair AEP Racing) BMW S1000 RR 1’33.816