World Superbike

Lowes Stays On Top As Testing Draws To A Close

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Alex Lowes continued his sensational form in pre-season testing by topping the final day of running at Phillip Island before this weekend’s season opener. The British riders continued to dominate, filling five of the top six places, but Lowes’ 1:30.859 in Tuesday’s morning session ensured he would see off the challenge of Jonathan Rea despite his pace in the afternoon.

Despite the absence of the injured Davide Giugliano and Randy de Puniet, times tumbled in the morning session with Lowes going faster than last year’s race lap record. The Suzuki rider knocked half a second off his own benchmark from Monday’s running to lead the sensational Jordi Torres and former champion Tom Sykes.

Drizzle fell towards the end of the morning session but conditions were fine for the afternoon. Kawasaki made full use of their final two hours of testing by dominating the session with Sykes and Rea spending all but a couple of minutes on top of the leaderboard. Rea’s best lap of a 1:30.880 saw him top the timesheets but he still remained 0.021s shy of Lowes. Sykes, meanwhile, brought the red flags out with a crash at turn twelve as he tried to match his teammate’s pace.

Leon Haslam was fifth fastest ahead of the sole Aruba.it Ducati of Chaz Davies with David Salom and Nicolas Terol impressing in seventh and eighth. Michael van der Mark remained the leading Honda rider in ninth after a crash for reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli while Giugliano stayed in the overall top ten by virtue of his Monday time.

 

PHILLIP ISLAND DWO OFFICIAL TEST –  FEBRUARY 16-17

1 Alex Lowes Suzuki Voltcom Crescent Suzuki 1:30.859
2 Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 1:30.880
3 Jordi Torres Aprilia Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 1:30.971
4 Tom Sykes Kawasaki Kawasaki Racing Team 1:31.075
5 Leon Haslam Aprilia Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 1:31.102
6 Chaz Davies Ducati Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team 1:31.296
7 David Salom Kawasaki Team Pedercini 1:31.510
8 Nicolas Terol Ducati Althea Racing 1:31.593
9 Michael van der Mark Honda PATA Honda World Superbike 1:31.854
10 Davide Giugliano Ducati Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team 1:31.948
11 Niccolo Canepa EBR Team Hero EBR 1:32.002
12 Sylvain Guintoli Honda PATA Honda World Superbike 1:32.220
13 Leon Camier MV Agusta MV Agusta Reparto Corse 1:32.238
14 Leandro Mercado Ducati Barni Racing Team 1:32.239
15 Sylvain Barrier BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK 1:32.268
16 Randy de Puniet Suzuki Voltcom Crescent Suzuki 1:32.402
17 Matteo Baiocco Ducati Althea Racing 1:32.430
18 Roman Ramos Kawasaki Team Go Eleven 1:33.349
19 Matthew Walters Kawasaki Team Pedercini 1:33.354
20 Jed Metcher Kawasaki Race Center – Demolition Plus 1:33.570
21 Santiago Barragan Kawasaki Grillini SBK Team 1:34.104
22 Larry Pegram EBR Team Hero EBR 1:34.274
23 Christophe Ponsson Kawasaki Grillini SBK Team 1:34.966
24 Gabor Rizmayer BMW BMW Team Toth 1:35.351
25 Imre Toth BMW BMW Team Toth 1:36.112
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