2013 Donington World Superbike Qualifying 1 Results
Typical of weather in the UK, round four of the 2013 World Superbike Championship began under wet conditions at Donington Park Friday during the first Free Practice.
Due to the wet conditions, only five riders participated, including the leader of the session, BMW Motorrad GoldBet’s Chaz Davies, Ducati Alstare’s Carlos Checa, the 2011 MotoGP Champion.
Missing from FP1, though, was Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes, who took three Superpole wins in four rounds so far in 2013 World Superbike. But under clearing conditions, the Brit was able to pilot his ZX-10R Ninja to the top time in Qualifying 1 Friday afternoon.
Sykes posted a 1:30.278, finishing 1.282 seconds ahead of Pata Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea. As for the rest of the top 10, each rider finished within a second of each other.
Syke’s encouraging start of the weekend was hampered by a late crash at Turn 4 that damaged his Ninja ZX-10R, but the works Kawasaki rider walked away from the gravel uninjured. A few seconds before Frenchman Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) lost control of his GSX-R1000 at the exact same spot.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) kept his momentum after Monza’s success up by finishing third , followed by Aprilia duo of Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) and Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing), home rider Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) and Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma Aprilia). Melandri’s team mate Chaz Davies was eight ahead of works Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty.
Local hero Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) fought against the pain to complete an outstanding total of eight laps. The rider from the near Derby was declared fit to ride but his conditions will be reviewed again before tomorrow’s Qualifying 2. Haslam fractured his leg at Assen and despite still recovering from the injury, he is doing his very best to tackle the whole round.
The grid will return to Donington Saturday for another round of practice and qualifying ahead of Superpole. For a preview of Donington World Superbike, click here.
2013 Donington World Superbike Qualifying 1 Results:
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’30.278
2. Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1’31.560
3. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1’31.571
4. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’31.792
5. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’31.940
6. Leon Camier (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’31.978
7. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.094
8. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.103
9. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.242
10. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.261
11. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’32.677
12. Niccolò Canepa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’33.174
13. Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’33.205
14. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1’33.402
15. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’33.530
16. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’34.198
17. Federico Sandi (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’34.405
18. Vittorio Iannuzzo (Grillini Dentalmatic SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1’38.050
19. Alexander Lundh (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’37.334Donington SBK