Chaz Davies tops timesheets after opening Superbike sessions

30 September 2016 03:53

Ducati's Chaz Davies sits top of the time-sheets after the opening two sessions of free practice in Round 11 of the Superbike World Championships held at Magny-Cours in France.

Both sessions were dominated by Brits, with five of the top six riders in the first session taken up by Britons before all five stormed to the top of the overall standings.

Davies was top of the list in both rounds and went just under half a second quicker in the second session to put in a time of one minute 37.836 seconds as the third-ranked Welshman aims to close the 98-point deficit on Championship leader Jonathan Rea.

Leon Camier of MV Agusta improved on his sixth place in opening practice to finish second, two- hundredths of a second off the pace of the Ducati.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) had originally set the pace with one minute 38.068 seconds before having technical issues with his bike which ruled him out of the rest of session, but he still managed to hold on to third place.

Fellow Kawasaki rider Rea could only finish fourth in free practice to allow the pressure to build on his Championship lead while Alex Lowes, who missed last week's Aragon MotoGP race with a swollen ankle, returned to come fifth on his Yamaha.

Dutchman Michael van der Mark (Honda) claimed sixth after being absent from the first session, while Ducati's Xavi Fores dropped from third to seventh.

Aprilia's Lorenzo Savadori placed in eighth while home favourite Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha) and BMW's Jordi Torres edged out Markus Reiterberger (BMW) into the top 10, where they will qualify for the Superpole 2 on Saturday.

Source: PA