Phillip Island WSBK Test Monday Summary: Sykes Leads

With the World Superbike season almost upon us, the WSBK grid is at Phillip Island for two days of testing, ahead of the first event of the year which starts this weekend.

Rain disrupted practice for WSBK, just as it had for MotoGP last week, though the consequences were less severe. The rain and track conditions saw a few people fall – some, such as Karel Abraham, quite hard – but everyone will be fit to start testing again tomorrow.

With the start of the season so close, most of the work being done was on set up for the weekend, and it was once again the Kawasakis who came out on top, especially during the afternoon session.

Tom Sykes ended up on top of the timesheets, much to the delight of the Kawasaki man, who has historically not fared well at the circuit.

Sykes finished nearly two tenths ahead of his teammate, reigning world champion Jonathan Rea, a result that pleased him.

In response to questions about Rea’s statements at the Kawasaki launch that the bike had been built around Sykes, the Yorkshireman seized the opportunity to take a jab back, calling Rea’s words “a cheap comment.”

Third fastest was Dutchman Michael van der Mark, the Ten Kate Honda rider traditionally strong in Australia. Van der Mark was fastest in the morning, but could not better his pace in the afternoon, ending the day four tenths behind Sykes.

Jordi Torres grabbed fourth spot, the Spaniard making a successful transition from Aprilia to BMW, while Nicky Hayden had a strong start to his World Superbike career with the fifth fastest time overall, and fourth in the afternoon.

The brand new Yamaha R1 showed immediate signs of being competitive on its debut, Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes ending the day in sixth and seventh, half a second off the pace of Sykes, and with plenty of room for improvement.

Xavi Fores ended the day as the fastest of the Ducatis, the Spaniard making a very strong debut in World Superbikes after his years in the German IDM championship, ending ahead of the two factory bikes of Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano.

Overall, the tightness of the field showed promise, the top ten separated by just seven tenths of a second, while the gap from Van der Mark in third to Davies in ninth is less than two tenths.

The combined times are shown at the top of the page. Testing continues on Tuesday, before the riders get a couple of days off ahead of the season opener.

World Superbike Combined Test Times from Phillip Island:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Prev	Session
1	T. Sykes	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.31.097	–	–	FP2
2	J. Rea	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.31.293	0.196	0.196	FP2
3	M. Van Der Mark	Honda CBR1000RR SP	1.31.510	0.413	0.217	FP1
4	J. Torres	BMW S1000 RR	1.31.526	0.429	0.016	FP2
5	N. Hayden	Honda CBR1000RR SP	1.31.558	0.461	0.032	FP2
6	S. Guintoli	Yamaha YZF R1	1.31.583	0.486	0.025	FP2
7	A. Lowes	Yamaha YZF R1	1.31.620	0.523	0.037	FP2
8	X. Fores	Ducati 1199 Panigale R	1.31.661	0.564	0.041	FP2
9	C. Davies	Ducati 1199 Panigale R	1.31.678	0.581	0.017	FP2
10	D. Giugliano	Ducati 1199 Panigale R	1.31.810	0.713	0.132	FP2
11	M. Reiterberger	BMW S1000 RR	1.31.928	0.831	0.118	FP2
12	R. Ramos	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.32.500	1.403	0.572	FP2
13	L. Camier	MV Agusta 1000 F4	1.32.707	1.610	0.207	FP2
14	J. Brookes	BMW S1000 RR	1.32.714	1.617	0.007	FP1
15	L. Savadori	Aprilia RSV4 1000 RR/RF	1.32.892	1.795	0.178	FP2
16	M. Jones	Ducati 1199 Panigale R	1.33.051	1.954	0.159	FP2
17	S. Barrier	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.33.147	2.050	0.096	FP2
18	F. Menghi	Ducati 1199 Panigale R	1.33.251	2.154	0.104	FP2
19	J. Hook	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.33.792	2.695	0.541	FP2
20	A. De Angelis	Aprilia RSV4 1000 F	1.33.979	2.882	0.187	FP1
21	K. Abraham	BMW S1000 RR	1.34.706	3.609	0.727	FP1
22	D. Schmitter	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.35.640	4.543	0.934	FP2
23	S. Al Sulaiti	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.36.121	5.024	0.481	FP2
24	I. Toth	Yamaha YZF R1	1.36.463	5.366	0.342	FP2
25	P. Sebestyen	Yamaha YZF R1	1.37.927	6.830	1.464	FP2