PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
A strong contingent of five top Superbike teams lined up in fair weather conditions on the first day of a planned three-day test at Jerez. Marco Melandri set the early test pace, but at the end the Ducati duo of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies led them home, each setting impressive times on race tyres. Giugliano was well under the lap record, with his 1’41.056 best lap fully 0.4 seconds better than even his team-mate Davies.
Tom Sykes (KRT) placed a close third and Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda) an equally competitive fourth, with the first official Aprilia belonging to Sylvain Guintoli, who was trying out a new rear swingarm.
After the first morning the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki team fitted their all-new FTR manufactured underslung rear swing arm to Eugene Laverty’s bike. This was the very first test of the new unit, which can quickly be adjusted for stiffness via several bolts. Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) was sixth fastest on day one, after his big crashes in Australia at round one.
The official Kawasaki Racing Team SBK EVO effort was halted for a time when David Salom fell early in the day, hurting his previously injured right hand badly enough to go to hospital for checks. He suffered an injury to the base of his right middle finger and he also complained of pain, after he retook to the track, on the outside and inside of his right hand.
Two more days of testing remain, but as this is a Ducati private test, with other teams invited along to share costs, three hours are blocked off in the middle of Tuesday to allow filming of Ducati’s MotoGP machinery.
2014 World Superbike Jerez Test
Day One Results:
1. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) 1:41.056
2. Chaz Davies (Ducati ) 1:41.468
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1:41.545
4. Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1:41.624
5. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) 1:41.754
6. Alex Lowes (Suzuki) 1:41.821
7. Marco Melandri (Aprilia) 1:41.905
8. Loris Baz (Kawasaki) 1:41.932
9. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1:42.153
10. Eugene Laverty (Suzuki) 1:42.648
