Sykes tops Aragon Superbike testing

The test included the Kawasaki Racing Team, Pedercini Kawasaki, Aprilia Racing and BMW Motorrad teams. The Althea Racing Ducati squad of Carlos Checa did not attend this test.

The British rider had lapped in a time of 1 minute 58.4 seconds, four-tenths under Carlos Checa's lap record, but on the second day, on soft tyres, he went even quicker to record a 1 minute 57.2 seconds lap, which knocks almost half a second off the 2011 pole time. With this performance, Sykes confirmed that he and the team are now on the right track following their Phillip Island podium, and are gearing up to repeat this form at the next Superbike round at Imola.

Aragon also saw promising form recorded by the two BMW Motorrad team riders. Marco Melandri was able to test a new swing-arm and suspension link, which gave positive results, while Leon Haslam, still recovering from a fractured leg incurred at the Phillip island test, tried out a new spec engine. The British rider proved to be particularly impressive on softer tyres, which his Italian team-mate did not use.

Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) set some fast times in the morning session, his quickest being a 1'58.8 lap, the 2010 champion trying out an evo-spec engine that Aprilia will bring to the world championship rounds from Monza onwards, but the Italian finished the test session early.

World Superbikes Overall times (unofficial):
1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'57.2
2. Haslam (BMW) 1'58.2
3. Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1'58.2
4. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'58.8
5. Melandri (BMW) 1'59.1
6. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'59.5
7. Mercado (Kawasaki) 2'00.9.