Rea Tops Final Qualifying
Cycle News Staff | September 8, 2012
Honda World Superbike’s Jonathan Rea heads into this afternoon’s Superpole session as the fastest rider in a tightly packed Saturday morning qualifying for Sunday’s World Superbike races at the Nurburgring
Rea finished the session with a lap of 1:55.157 mins. around the 3.19-mile circuit. The time was best by .025 sec over BMW’s Marco Melandri, with Aprilia’s Max Biaggi only .067 sec. slower and Althea Racing Ducati’s Carlos Checa .021 sec. behind Biaggi.
Kawasaki’s Superpole maven Tom Sykes had the fifth fastest time (1:55.325). Sixth was Checa’s teammate Davide Giugliano, seventh BMW’s Leon Haslam, and eighth Leon Camier on the first of the FIXI Crescent Suzukis. John Hopkins put the second FIXI Crescent Suzuki into the 16th spot.
Aprilias finished ninth and tenth fastest, with Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) ahead of the factory bike of Eugene Laverty.
The top 15 riders finished on the same second.
World Superbike Qualifying:
1. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1:55.157
2. Marco Melandri (BMW) 1:55.182
3. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1:55.249
4. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1:55.270
5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1:55.325
6. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) 1:55.385
7. Leon Haslam (BMW) 1:55.541
8. Leon Camier (Suzuki) 1:55.594
9. Chaz Davies (Aprilia) 1:55.703
10. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 1:55.783
16. John Hopkins (Suzuki) 1:56.231
