WSBK – Superpole Laguna Seca: the cold revenge of Sykes –

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Superpole Laguna Seca: the cold revenge of Sykes

WSBK - Superpole Laguna Seca: the cold revenge of Sykes -

Defeated by Sylvain Guintoli during the American Superpole in 2013, Tom Sykes has just taken revenge by shooting the Frenchie’s record by eight tenths of a second! The English Ninja qualifies ahead of Guintoli on Aprilia and Davies on Ducati… Best time of the two free practice days, Tom Sykes was more discreet this Saturday afternoon – Saturday evening in…

Defeated by Sylvain Guintoli during the American Superpole in 2013, Tom Sykes has just taken revenge by shooting the Frenchie’s record by eight tenths of a second! The English Ninja qualifies ahead of Guintoli on Aprilia and Davies on Ducati…

Best time of the two free practice days, Tom Sykes was more discreet this Saturday afternoon – Saturday evening in France – during the final phase of the Superpole (SP2): the "Number One" has first let his opponents explain to each other for a good ten minutes…

In the first round performed by the twelve drivers of SP2, Sylvain Guintoli was the fastest and seemed able to win a second consecutive pole position on the small but extremely hilly and technical track of Laguna Seca..

During the second set of laps, Melandri managed to get ahead of his French teammate, while Giugliano, Davies and Haslam struggled to appear at the top of the American grill, in preparation for the two races tomorrow afternoon – evening for us. !

But the English Ninja was on the prowl! About two minutes into the end of the session, Tom unsheathed his soft Pirelli tires and released the – very – big attack at the controls of his Kawasaki ZX-10R, coldly sinking the track record (1 ‘21,811 now) and with him the hopes of his enemies.

First on the Sykes list, the man who "turns" faster than his shadow, Guintoli finishes at half a second, a chasm on this 3.6 km long circuit! The official Aprilia n ° 50 nevertheless secures a solid second place, which is very important on this track which is all in all quite "single-path"..

As in Portimao a week ago, Chaz Davies hoists his factory Ducati outside the front row. His teammate Davide Giugliano demonstrates with his fourth place that the track always does well at the 1199 Panigale: last year, Niccolo Canepa – who replaced Carlos Checa – had already placed the Ducati in the lead of the second row.

Marco Melandri will start from fifth place on the second factory Aprilia. Behind him will be installed the former official Aprilia rider and 2013 vice-world champion, Eugene Laverty, now Suzuki rider … in WSBK, but also in MotoGP during private testing. !

Package last year, Loris Baz discovered the Californian track on Friday: "Yesterday was a shitty day", estimated Bazooka this morning, "I love the track but I got confused with the settings of the bike! go back to the default ones and I put the gas on! "

Eleventh time in the total of the first three free practice sessions, our "Green Giant" had to compete in SP1, during which our favorite n ° 76 caught fire, leaving the track during a fast lap and stumbling at low speed in an airfence.

Fortunately, Loris was able to leave on his official Ninja – not without holding his left hand, alarming his fans for a moment – then qualifying for SP2 … Fortunately, during this final phase, the "Savoyard Cheetah" did not. showed no signs of weakness. He finally gets eighth place ahead of Tonia Elias (Aprilia Red Devils Roma).

Eliminated, like Baz, from the Laguna Seca test in 2013 due to an injury, Jonathan Rea fell and had to settle for 10th position. The winner of the second Portuguese race will have to spit in the gloves to stay in contact with the best in the race … and the best in the championship !

Rookie Alex Lowes (Suzuki Voltcom Crescent) and first rider Evo Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Althea) will set up their respective GSX-R1000 and 1199 Panigale alongside the "Johnny" Fireblade on the fourth row.

Starting at the start of SP1 in the wake of Baz, Sylvain Barrier completed a couple of laps behind n ° 76 and was in second place until David Salom, first in the Evo "championship", dislodged him from the Top 2 (synonymous with SP2 as a reminder!).

The n ° 52 started again with coal but did not finally succeed in sneaking his S1000RR in SP2, beaten by Baz and Canepa … The double Superstock 1000 champion will therefore start from the middle of the 5th row, ahead of Chris Iddon (Bimota Alstare) left at fault in SP1 … but to watch in the race tomorrow !

David Salom (Kawasaki Racing) will complete the 5th row, while the second BB3 driven by Ayrton Badovini (Bimota Alstare) and the two ZX-10Rs of Brian Staring and Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki Iron Brain Grillini) will make up the 6th row.

Leon Camier, substitute for Sylvain Barrier Claudio Corti on the only MV Agusta F4RR on the field, will start from 19th place on the American grid. Alessandro Andreozzi (Kawasaki Pedercini) will be ahead of a particularly disappointed Jeremy Guarnoni at the end of the third qualifying practice session ‘, decisive to access the Superpole…

"Missing the Superpole for 0.007 seconds", regretted this evening "Jey" on his Facebook page. "Too bad because this morning in FP4 I finished 18 improving my qualifying time and especially 13 in" ideal time "following an error during my best lap …"

The MRS team rider will therefore start from 21st place, "optimistic for tomorrow’s races, the bike is good, we will have to make a good start and a nice comeback like in Portimao!" The n ° 11 Ninja had his best results in Word Superbike in Portugal.

Geoff May took advantage of his excellent knowledge of the Californian track: the No. 99 of the EBR Hero team went 14 thousandths of a second behind SP1 (!) And will place his 1190 RX in the lead of 8th place. He will be followed by the first guest driver for this round: Larry Pegram (41 years old next September!), Who also rides on an Erik Buell machine. Gabor Rizmayer completes this eighth line.

Twenty-fifth in FP3, Aaron Yates will set off at the controls of the second machine of the American-Indian team EBR Hero. The second wildcard Chris Ulrich (Honda Geico) will close the starting grid for both races: the first will start at 10 p.m. (French time), the second at 11:45 p.m. … stay tuned !

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