Editor

Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) took over at the top in the afternoon's SBK qualifying session after Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) had gone quickest in the morning's free practice run.

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The 2011 champion's time of 1 minute 43.579 seconds was good enough to see off his closest challenger, an impressive Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) by just 0.087 seconds, while Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert - Liberty Racing Ducati) also looked good, finishing two-tenths down in third.


Rea grabbed the final place on the overnight front row with the fourth quickest time, seeing off the challenge of Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing), the Italian not appearing to show any ill-effects from his recent left foot bone fracture. Two Kawasaki ZX-10R machines were next up, with Spain's Joan Lascorz getting the nod on Britain's Tom Sykes.


In his last race for the official Yamaha team, Marco Melandri was in eighth place, while Japan's Noriyuki Haga (PATA Aprilia) and Jakub Smrz (Effenbert - Liberty Racing Ducati) rounded out the top 10. Superbike rookie Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) made his debut in 18th place, while Santiago Barragam (Kawasaki Pedercini) wrapped up the field in 22nd.



Source: World Superbike

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Kawasaki Racing