Despite suffering from a bout of indigestion during yesterday’s test and having to handle those six kilos on his Ducati, Carlos Checa continued his dominant form even on the final day of private testing at Phillip Island.
The reigning World Champion set a best lap of 1.
31.
8, but even on this third day where lap times again were again lowered, he was unable to shake off an aggressive Tom Sykes who was just one tenth of a second adrift and has almost equally matched Checa’s pace over these last three days.
Leon Haslam took third using qualifying tires as did Max Biaggi who ended up in fourth, while Aprilia team mate Eugene Laverty suffered a huge crash at the first corner sustaining an injury to his left hand, with reports are saying that he fractured his third metacarpal bone and now is seriously in doubt for the season’s opener.
He will probably be sidelined until the Imola round with Crescent Fixi Suzuki’s John Hopkins.
Joan Lascorz continues to take the fifth position on the other Provec Kawasaki, while Jakub Smrz was sixth on the Effenbert Liberty Ducati.
Laverty is listed in 7th spot before his high speed crash took him out of the test and he was followed by Michel Fabrizio who made a huge jump forward to finish eighth with his BMW Italia GoldBet machine.
Maxime Berger of Effenbert Liberty finished ahead of Marco Melandri who is complaining of lack of front end feeling on his BMW S1000RR that worsens when track temperatures rise and he also suffered a crash caused by Michel Fabrizio.
Crescent Fixi Suzuki’s Leon Camier concluded the test in 11th despite yesterday’s electrical problems and he was joined by replacement rider Josh Brookes (no lap times were recorded), who has some trouble adjusting to Hopkins bike set-up and has rear tire grip issues.
Ayrton Badovini dropped to 14th after a crash at turn 1, fortunately the BMW rider didn’t suffer any injuries.
Unofficial lap times Day 3:1.
Checa (Spa-Ducati) 1’31”8;2.
Sykes (GB-Kawasaki) 1’31”9;3.
Haslam (GB-Bmw) 1’32”2 ;4.
Biaggi (Ita-Aprilia) 1’32”3;5.
Lascorz (Spa-Kawasaki) 1′32”4;6.
Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1′32”4;7.
Laverty (Irl-Aprilia) 1’32”5;8.
Fabrizio (Ita-Bmw) 1’32”6;9.
Berger (Fra-Ducati) 1’32”9;10.
Melandri (Ita-Bmw) 1′33”0;11.
Camier (GB-Suzuki) 1’33”1;12.
Giugliano (Ita-Ducati) 1’33”5;13.
Guintoli (Fra-Ducati) 1’33”5;14.
Badovini (Ita-Bmw) 1′33”8;15.
Johnson (Aus-Bmw) 1’34”1;16.
Zanetti (Ita-Ducati) 1’34”7;17.
Salom (Spa-Kawasaki) 1’34”9.
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