Red Devil’s Aprilia’s Leon Haslam took the fight to Chaz Davies in this morning’s third World Superbike free practice session at Assen, getting to within two-tenths of the Ducati’s man best time set yesterday despite much colder track temperatures in Holland.
Haslam said before he landed in Holland that the RSV4 works better with its Pirelli tyres as track temperatures rise but he managed to put in a 1’35.946 to rival Davies’ 1’35.748 with eight minutes of the session left to run.
Davies himself was one of only four riders not to improve his time but he goes into this afternoon’s Superpole as the man on top and favourite for pole position.
Behind Haslam, Kawasaki duo Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes were vying for second spot early on with the Isle of Man’s early run of 1’36.110, 1’36.082 and 1’36.027 laps being just enough to fend of Sykes until the Huddersfield man banged in a 1’36.024 for third spot on the sheet.
Jordi Torres, on the second Red Devils RSV4, had been sitting in fourth on a 1’36.066 and a little over three-tenths off the pace until he was bumped to fifth by Haslam’s lap while local man and Pata Honda rider Michael Van Der Mark improved his pace but not position to end in sixth on a 1’36.115.
Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes has the first three sectors of the Circuit Van Drenthe sorted as his fastest lap saw him heading for third spot on his last fast lap but the final sector let him and he ended in seventh on a 1’36.280 but only half a second in arrears.
Althea Ducati’s Nico Terol shoved his way into the top ten with a 1’36.423 and was joined by Xavi Fores in the last minute. The pair of Spaniard’s eased MV Agusta’s Leon Camier back to tenth place but the lanky Brit improved his time to a 1’36.563 despite being six miles per hour down on top speed.
Sylvain Guintoli showed some early promise, especially in the first two sectors, but couldn’t make it last and he ended in 12th, one place behind Matteo Baiocco. Randy De Puniet continues to struggle on the second Voltcom GSX-R1000, slipped back to 17th place and failing to improve his laptime.
