Nurburgring: Series Friday report

Checa leads day one for Althea with new record lap

Privateer Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati) slammed in a brilliant new track best lap of 1'55.232 during the opening qualifying session of race weekend to lead local favourite Troy Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport). Checa was a podium finisher at N0x00fcrburgring in 2009, and is looking forward to another chance to improve tomorrow, before facing Superpole on Saturday afternoon. On his German-built BMW machine, Corser headed a trio of Ducati riders; Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox Team, Shane Byrne (Althea Racing Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox Team).

Championship leader Max Biaggi was sixth for Aprilia Alitalia Racing, keeping up the pressure on challenger Leon Haslam, who was only 11th for Suzuki Alstare. Double Silverstone race winner Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda Team) was top Yamaha rider, Jonathan Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) the fastest Honda man in eighth place.

Privateer Jakub Smrz (Team PATA B&G Racing) slipped into the top ten, as did Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) on the same weekend his team launched their new 2011 season challenger in the WSBK paddock. Local hero Max Neukirchner (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) posted a top 12 time, but it was an unhappy and painful session for Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing) who broke his right wrist in a heavy fall, and has been declared unfit to race on Sunday. He also hurt his knee, but without serious injury.

Stand-in rider Ian Lowry (Kawasaki Racing Team) was 19th and by no means the last rider in the first day rankings.

World Supersport

Championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) set a 1'59.276 lap on the first day of competitive action in Germany, but Spanish rider David Salom (ParkinGO BE1 Triumph) was only 1/1000th of a second behind. Silverstone podium finisher Gino Rea (Intermoto Czech) went third on his Honda, despite a late fall, without injury. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki Motocard.com) was fourth on the official Ninja ZX-6R, his new team-mate Broc Parkes seventh. Championship challenger Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) was fifth. One more qualifying session remains to determine the final grid positions tomorrow.

Superstock 1000

Italian rider Andrea Antonelli (Honda Lorini) set the fastest time of day one at the N0x00fcrburgring in the Superstock class, heading off new champion Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia STK) by only 0.035 seconds. Maxime Berger (Honda Ten Kate Race Junior) posted the third best lap and a return to the big time for Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati SS Lazio Motorsport) put him fourth. Sylvain Barrier (Garnier Junior Racing BMW) slotted in fifth, while Michele Magnoni (Bevilacqua Corse Honda) stayed in contention in sixth place.

Superstock 600

Local rider Marc Moser (Sport-Evolution Triumph) was a popular early pace setter in Superstock 600, leading regular Yamaha competitors Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Racing) and Romain Lanusse (MRS Racing) in the top-three battle. The leader enjoyed an impressive 0.761 second advantage over Guarnoni at the end. Joshua Elliott (Racedays Kawasaki) took a top four placing, ahead of Dutchman Tony Covena (Econocom Yamaha).

-source: sbk