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Qualifying report

Sykes tops the timesheets in Day 1 at Imola

On the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in Italy, Tom Sykes set the fastest lap on Friday's practice/qualifying for the World Superbike. In World Supersport class, it was again Sam Lowes who took the top honors.

Tom Sykes

Tom Sykes

Dave Dyer

Imola (Italy), Friday 28 June 2013 – In the opening day of Round 7 Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) managed to steal the show by placing himself on top in Qualifying 1 after the 1st place achieved in late morning's free practice. Last year's runner up set a 1'47.218 seconds lap-time in his penultimate attempt to edge a competitive Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike), who did a good job to close up on the lead in the final stages.

The national flag for the round was well represented today, as Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Aprilia) ended up third ahead of fellow Italian riders Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare), who achieved his best finish in qualifying so far in 2013, Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), all within 0.259 seconds of each other.

Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) completed the session in 7th place, followed by Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), team mate Eugene Laverty and Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), who had a spectacular crash at Turn 6 that led to a quick Red Flag halfway through the session. The young Frenchman walked away from the run-off area uninjured. Returning Noriyuki Haga (Grillini Dentalmatic BMW) had a difficult debut day of his one-event participation, as he finished 17th ahead of team mate Vittorio Iannuzzo.

World Supersport – Sam Lowes dominates the field

Championship leader Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) has set the pace in today's Qualifying 1, topping the timesheets courtesy of a 1'51.104 seconds lap-time, already the new Best Lap. The young Brit was already on the lead in the closing stages, but decided to push for an even quicker time to try an break into the 1'50s bracket. Rookie Riccardo Russo (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) ended up with a promising second place ahead of Pata Honda World Supersport duo of Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti, Luca Scassa (Intermoto Ponyexpres Kawasaki) and Vladimir Ivanov (DMC-Lorenzini Kawasaki).

PTR Honda Sheridan Morais was 7th, followed by Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), Irishman Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto Honda), Andrea Antonelli (Team Goeleven Kawasaki) and Foret's team mate Kenan Sofuoglu. The defending Champion had a tough time in this session, compared to the 5th place he achieved in the morning Free Practice. Russian Vladimir Leonov was out of contention for almost the entire session, as he suffered a technical problem on his Yakhnich Motorsport YZF-R6 during his second lap on track, just six minutes after the start of Qualifying 1.

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