Sykes leads Rea in Kawasaki domination at Jerez test
Full World Superbike test results from day two at Jerez
Tom Sykes has struck back against Kawasaki team-mate Jonathan Rea by topping the final day of the Jerez pre-season World Superbike test by over half a second.
Full World Superbike test results from day two at Jerez
Tom Sykes has struck back against Kawasaki team-mate Jonathan Rea by topping the final day of the Jerez pre-season World Superbike test by over half a second.
The Kawasaki Racing Team rider shot to the top of the times midway through the six hours of track action with a 1m 38.889s to become the first rider to dip into the 1m38s bracket in 2018 at the Spanish circuit. The lap time was enough to hand Sykes the top spot, despite Rea going into the 1m37s mark in more favourable conditions in November at Jerez, with Rea’s best effort of 1m 39.470s enough to lockout the top two spots for Kawasaki on the second day of the test.
Rea, who topped the opening day of the Jerez test, suffered a small fall towards the end of the final day but walked away uninjured.
Pata Yamaha test rider Nicolo Canepa produced a late flying lap to leap to third on the overall timesheet ahead of an impressive Leon Camier who has continued to gather pace on the Red Bull Honda.
Marco Melandri led the charge for Aruba.it Racing Ducati in fifth ahead of Milwaukee Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty and MV Agusta’s new signing Jordi Torres. Pata Yamaha duo Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark ended the test eighth and ninth respectively on the day two timesheet as British Superbike rider Leon Haslam rounded out the top ten for JG Speedfit Kawasaki.
Leandro Mercado continued to gather speed for Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki in 11th to narrowly beat new Althea BMW signing Loris Baz as Chaz Davies, Michael Rinaldi (both Aruba.it Racing Ducati) and Luke Mossey (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) completed the top 15.
Further down the order World Superbike rookies Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) and Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda) made progress adapting to the series while a close eye was kept on Lorenzo Zanetti testing Ducati’s Panigale V4 bike which is expected to make its WSBK debut in 2019.
The day’s action has wrapped up the Jerez WSBK test with the majority of teams heading on to Portimao for a second two-day test on the 28-29th January.
