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| Michel Fabrizio - Ducati © MCNews |
Track action on the opening day of practice for the twelfth round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Imola was delayed
for four hours due to the request by a number of riders to clean the surface, which they considered to be slippery.
The session had been
red-flagged after just five minutes when Yamaha WSBK rider Tom Sykes crashed on his first lap, without any major injury. After
consulting the riders Claude Danis, the FIM safety officer, together with the circuit organisers and the race director, decided to clean
and dry the track, despite several riders and team managers maintaining that it was only necessary for the riders to stay out on the track
to continue to lay down rubber. When Supersport and Superbike action resumed at 4.30, it did not substantially modify the surface condition,
which was confirmed by the times subsequently obtained, in line with July testing, and by the fact that no crashes were recorded in the two
sessions. Due to the delay Superstock 1000 and 600 free practice did not take place, but Saturday's schedule will remain unchanged.
The fastest time in SBK went to Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox), who was the only rider to dip under the 1m50s mark with a time of 1 minute
49.895 seconds. Carlos Checa (Hannspree Honda) was next up, just a couple of tenths behind, with points leader Ben Spies (Yamaha WSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Honda) third and fourth. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) made a major step forward from
the July tests to slot into fifth place, while stand-in 250 cc world champion Marco Simoncelli eased into Superbike with the twelfth-quickest
time. Japans's Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) was one place behind in thirteenth.
Supersport
Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha WSS) waited until the track had improved grip in final 20 minutes of the free practice session before
going out to make his mark. The points leader set a time of 1 minute 52.751 seconds to put almost half-a-second between himself and the next
man, Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Honda). The other two top championship contenders, Joan Lascorz (Motocard Kawasaki) and Eugene
Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) were next up in third and fourth. Britain's Chaz Davies made an encouraging start to his World Supersport career,
the ParkinGo Triumph man ending up tenth quickest on his 675 machine, six places ahead of team-mate Garry McCoy.
-WSBK-
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2009 WSB Italy - Imola 25/09/2009 - Free Practice
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Pos.
|
Rider
|
Manu.
|
Nat.
|
Total Time
|
|
1
|
Michel Fabrizio
|
Ducati
|
ITA
|
1'49.895
|
|
2
|
Carlos Checa
|
Honda
|
ESP
|
1'50.125
|
|
3
|
Ben Spies
|
Yamaha
|
USA
|
1'50.213
|
|
4
|
Jonathan Rea
|
Honda
|
GBR
|
1'50.308
|
|
5
|
Max Biaggi
|
Aprilia
|
ITA
|
1'50.515
|
|
6
|
Yukio Kagayama
|
Suzuki
|
JPN
|
1'50.516
|
|
7
|
Leon Haslam
|
Honda
|
GBR
|
1'50.716
|
|
8
|
Shane Byrne
|
Ducati
|
GBR
|
1'50.801
|
|
9
|
Jakub Smrz
|
Ducati
|
CZE
|
1'50.806
|
|
10
|
Troy Corser
|
BMW
|
AUS
|
1'50.876
|
|
11
|
Matthieu Lagrive
|
Honda
|
FRA
|
1'51.003
|
|
12
|
Marco Simoncelli
|
Aprilia
|
ITA
|
1'51.090
|
|
13
|
Noriyuki Haga
|
Ducati
|
JPN
|
1'51.112
|
|
14
|
Lorenzo Lanzi
|
Ducati
|
ITA
|
1'51.333
|
|
15
|
Karl Muggeridge
|
Suzuki
|
AUS
|
1'51.527
|
|
18
|
Tom Sykes
|
Yamaha
|
GBR
|
1'51.922
|
|
27
|
David Checa
|
Yamaha
|
ESP
|
1'54.428
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