Leon Haslam returned to the top of the timesheets in the final session of free practice for the World Superbike class at Portimao. The Alstare Suzuki rider took over from Sterilgarda Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow who had led for the first half of the session. Althea Ducati’s Shane Byrne made it an all-British top 3, with Byrne’s teammate Carlos Checa finishing in 4th.
Results of FP2 for the World Superbike class:
With four weeks between the Phillip Island and Portimao rounds of World Superbikes, Kawasaki’s Chris Vermeulen had hoped to have sufficient time to recover from the horrific knee injury he suffered in a crash. Sadly for the Australian, that has not proved to be the case, and after taking a lap of the demanding Portuguese circuit, Vermeulen decided to pull out of the event. Here he is, explaining the decision in a video posted on his Youtube channel yesterday:
Jakub Smrz shook up the World Superbike field by shooting to the top of the timesheets and snatching provisional pole during the second session of qualifying at Portimao. The Czech Pata S&G rider looked like leading a Ducati clean sweep lat on in the session, Smrz leading Xerox Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio and Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa, with only Leon Haslam the only non-Ducati on the front row, holding off Noriyuki Haga to keep 4th. But the final minutes of practice saw the field shake out and some diversity of equipment emerge.
Smrz hung on to the provisional pole, but only on a technicality, with Aprilia’s Max Biaggi setting the same time as the Pata S&G rider. Michel Fabrizio followed a whisper behind, just seven thousandths separating his time from Smrz’ and Biaggi’s, while a relatively fast thirty four thosuandths separated 4th place man Leon Haslam from Smrz. Johnny Rea took 5th, just a few thousandths behind, and five hundredths slower than Smrz and Biaggi.
Carlos Checa ended the session in 6th, the first man to be over a tenth of a second behind Smrz, while James Toseland took 7th on the Sterilgarda Yamaha and Nori Haga finished in 8th. Tom Sykes set a very respectable 9th fastest time, just under half a second from Smrz and Biaggi.
The second session of free practice for the World Supersport class saw the same four names dominate the timesheets. The Ten Kate Honda riders took an early lead, but by the end of the session Michele Pirro had been forced to allow Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty and Motocard.com Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz ahead of him, the Italian dropping to 4th. Kenan Sofuoglu held on to his place at the top of the timesheets, but the gaps between the top 4 are minimal.
Further back, Japanese veteran Katsuaki Fujiwara took 5th place, ahead of a gaggle of Triumphs, with Chaz Davies beating out ParkinGO teammate Jason DiSalvo, who was fractionally faster than Matthieu Lagrive, taking the place of the retired Sebastien Charpentier.
Results of FP2 for the World Supersport class at Portimao:
Eugene Laverty has put his Parkalgar Honda on provisional pole for Sunday’s second round of the World Supersport championship at his "home" circuit. The Portimao track sponsors the Parkalgar Honda team of Laverty and Miguel Praia, and having a rider on pole is an excellent start for the circuit.
Laverty took control in the second half of the session, after the Ten Kate Hondas of Michele Pirro and Kenan Sofuoglu had dominated the early running. Behind the Italian and the Turk, Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz fought with Triumphs of Chaz Davies and Jason DiSalvo, with Davies eventually coming out on top to take the 4th spot, while Lascorz was forced to settle for 5th. The Parkalgar’s fortunes were given an extra boost by Miguel Praia’s 6th fastest time, who finished at the head of a very tightly bunched group which included Fabien Foret and David Salom. British rider Gino Rea rounds out the top 10.
Results of the first session of qualifying for the World Supersport class at Portimao:
Championship leader Leon Haslam sits on provisional pole after the first session of qualifying for the World Superbike class at Portimao, the Alstare Suzuki rider continuing his strong start to the season and the second round of WSBK. The young Briton jumped to the top of the timesheets with 10 minutes to go, taking provisional pole from his fellow countryman Sterilgarda Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow.
Indeed, British riders dominated much of the session, with the top 4 all hailing from Albion for the second half of practice, with only occasional forays by Michel Fabrizio and Carlos Checa disrupting British dominance. But by the end of the session, the two Ducatis had driven a wedge between the Brits, Max Biaggi joining Fabrizio and Checa to take 4th. The two Sterilgarda Yamahas finished in 5th and 6th, with James Toseland just getting the better of his young teammate Cal Crutchlow, while Shakey Byrne on the other Althea Ducati took 7th place ahead of the Pata S&G bike of Jakub Smrz.
The Ten Kate Honda riders Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro dominated the first session of free practice for the World Supersport class at Portimao, taking the lead early and relinquishing it only to each other. Triumph’s Chaz Davies held on to 3rd spot for a long while, before being deposed by Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz as the session came to a close. Davies’ American teammate Jason DiSalvo eventually nudged the Welshman into 5th, ahead of championship leader Eugene Laverty and his Parkalgar Honda teammate Miguel Praia, the Portuguese rider putting in a strong performance at his home round.
Results of FP1 for the World Supersport class at Portimao:
In the first session of free practice for the World Superbike class at Portimao, James Toseland took top honors, stealing the lead from fellow Brit Leon Haslam in the final minutes. Haslam had shot to the top of the timesheets in the final ten minutes, after a bevy of Italians and Italian motorcycles – in the shape of Aprilia’s Maxi Biaggi and Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga – had made the running for much of the session. Ten Kate Honda’s Max Neukirchner took 3rd spot, while Max Biaggi redeemed his earlier provisional front row place in the final minutes to take 4th
Results of FP1 for the World Superbike class:
Despite it being nearly four weeks since the World Superbike paddock last convened at Phillip Island, the weekend – and the runup to that weekend – is having knock on effects on the rider lineup of the series. Before the weekend had even started, Australian rider Broc Parkes broke a tibia during training, and was replaced on the Echo CRS Honda by fellow Australian Josh Brookes. Parkes is still not fully fit to race, and so will be replaced by South African Sheridan Morais at Portimao.
Morais was a substitute rider last year, taking the place of Makoto Tamada in Paul Bird’s Kawasaki World Superbike squad. The South African has switched manufacturers this winter, and is currently campaigning an Aprilia RSV4 in the South African Superbike series.
Ruben Xaus’ 2010 World Superbike campaign got off to a tumultuous start, with four crashes during practice for the first round at Phillip Island. After a final error during the morning warmup, which saw Xaus slam into Noriyuki Haga and end the session badly shaken up, the BMW Motorrad team elected to sit Xaus out for the opening two races, considering it too much of a risk to allow the Spaniard to race.
That decision triggered a wave of speculation about the future of Ruben Xaus at BMW. Rumors seeping out of the World Superbike paddock suggested that BMW were tired of Xaus’ continuous crashing, which all too often forced Xaus to either ride injured or miss races while he recovered. It was said that BMW were actively seeking to replace Xaus, even though the season had only just got underway.
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