BMW’s Tom Sykes has topped the combined WorldSBK timesheets on Friday at Assen, edging out old enemy Jonathan Rea by 0.003s with his final lap of the session.

Sykes has been at the sharp end all day but, like team-mate Markus Reiterberger, was losing time in the final sector but managed to hold it all together just before the chequered flag came out to set a 1’35.414.

Rea had continued his form from this morning to lead the second half of the session but he was chased hard by team-mate Leon Haslam who ended only 0.010s in arrears.

The pair spent a portion of the second session lapping together with Haslam setting the initial pace but Rea just got the better of the current British Superbike Champion who finished with a 1’35.427.

Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark ended in fifth place, one behind Reiterberger, while Alvaro Bautista spent a chunk of the 50 minutes in the garage, coming out for a final run which saw him end in sixth place but only 0.133s off the pace.

Puccetti Kawasaki’s Toprak Razgatlioglu ended in seventh with Sandro Cortese improving by three seconds on his morning effort to secure eighth with a three-tenth deficit.

Chaz Davies made some late changes to his Panigale V4R but slipped down to ninth while Alex Lowes suffered another front-end crash, this time at Haarbocht, and he completed the top ten with a 1’36.183.

Eugene Laverty pushed the Goeleven Ducati through to 11th place with a four-tenth improvement with Jordi Torres right behind.

Leon Camier improved by eight-tenths to field a 1’36.457 with Marco Melandri still struggling in 14th place.

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Top speeds

1 91 L. HASLAM Kawasaki ZX-10RR 295,9
2 50 E. LAVERTY Ducati Panigale V4 R 295,9
3 7 C. DAVIES Ducati Panigale V4 R 294,3
4 19 A. BAUTISTA Ducati Panigale V4 R 293,5
5 1 J. REA Kawasaki ZX-10RR 293,5
6 21 M. RINALDI Ducati Panigale V4 R 291,9
7 11 S. CORTESE Yamaha YZF R1 291,1
8 60 M. VAN DER MARK Yamaha YZF R1 291,1
9 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU Kawasaki ZX-10RR 288,8
10 33 M. MELANDRI Yamaha YZF R1 288,8
11 80 H. BARBERA Kawasaki ZX-10RR 288,8
12 2 L. CAMIER Honda CBR1000RR 288,0
13 23 R. KIYONARI Honda CBR1000RR 288,0
14 22 A. LOWES Yamaha YZF R1 288,0
15 66 T. SYKES BMW S1000 RR 287,2
16 81 J. TORRES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 285,7
17 28 M. REITERBERGER BMW S1000 RR 282,7
18 52 A. DELBIANCO Honda CBR1000RR 277,6