Ninjette Newsbot
April 15th, 2011, 09:20 AM
2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results
http://image.sportrider.com/f/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/32625865+ppromo_large/146-1104-+2011-world-superbike-assen-friday-practice-qualifying-results.jpg
Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati's Jakub Smrz held the top spot in Friday's practice and provisional qualifying for the Assen round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html)A Ducati once again dominated the proceedings on Friday for the Assen round of the World Superbike Championship—only this time it wasn’t Althea Racing’s Carlos Checa. Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing’s Jakub Smrz was the Ducati rider who kept the WSBK field at bay in both the morning practice and provisional qualifying sessions, setting quick time with about 10 minutes remaining in the afternoon qualifying, and then responding to a challenge by Aprilia Alitalia’s Max Biaggi in the closing seconds by shaving off of few more hundredths to remain on top.
Following Biaggi by a couple of tenths was Yamaha’s Marco Melandri, who is certainly showing that he’s becoming comfortable with the R1 superbike. Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio came fourth after making some major improvements from the morning session, with Tom Sykes making similar strides on his factory Kawasaki to come in fifth. The BMW pair of Troy Corser and Leon Haslam held the top spots for a good portion of the session before dropping back to sixth and seventh respectively, while Melandri’s Yamaha factory teammate Eugene Laverty slotted in eighth, just barely ahead of Jonathan Rea on the Castrol Honda and Nori Haga on the Pata Racing Aprilia.
Checa looked like he would be at or near the top after showing strong form with a close second to Smrz in the morning session, but both he and Haga (who was third in the morning session) couldn’t improve as much as the rest of the field in the afternoon. Checa ended up 11th.
Photo Gallery: 2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results - Sport Rider Magazine (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html)
2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html) | Digg It (http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html&title=2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results) | Add to del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/post?url=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html&title=2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results)
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http://image.sportrider.com/f/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/32625865+ppromo_large/146-1104-+2011-world-superbike-assen-friday-practice-qualifying-results.jpg
Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati's Jakub Smrz held the top spot in Friday's practice and provisional qualifying for the Assen round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html)A Ducati once again dominated the proceedings on Friday for the Assen round of the World Superbike Championship—only this time it wasn’t Althea Racing’s Carlos Checa. Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing’s Jakub Smrz was the Ducati rider who kept the WSBK field at bay in both the morning practice and provisional qualifying sessions, setting quick time with about 10 minutes remaining in the afternoon qualifying, and then responding to a challenge by Aprilia Alitalia’s Max Biaggi in the closing seconds by shaving off of few more hundredths to remain on top.
Following Biaggi by a couple of tenths was Yamaha’s Marco Melandri, who is certainly showing that he’s becoming comfortable with the R1 superbike. Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio came fourth after making some major improvements from the morning session, with Tom Sykes making similar strides on his factory Kawasaki to come in fifth. The BMW pair of Troy Corser and Leon Haslam held the top spots for a good portion of the session before dropping back to sixth and seventh respectively, while Melandri’s Yamaha factory teammate Eugene Laverty slotted in eighth, just barely ahead of Jonathan Rea on the Castrol Honda and Nori Haga on the Pata Racing Aprilia.
Checa looked like he would be at or near the top after showing strong form with a close second to Smrz in the morning session, but both he and Haga (who was third in the morning session) couldn’t improve as much as the rest of the field in the afternoon. Checa ended up 11th.
Photo Gallery: 2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results - Sport Rider Magazine (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html)
2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results (http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html) | Digg It (http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html&title=2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results) | Add to del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/post?url=2&url=http://www.sportrider.com/news/146_1104_2011_world_superbike_assen_friday_practice_qualifying_results/index.html&title=2011 World Superbike Assen Friday practice/qualifying results)
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