Sykes sets new unofficial Aragon benchmarks - Printable Version +- TT Website Forum (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums) +-- Forum: Isle of Man TT Website (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +--- Forum: Other Race Meetings - MotoGP, WSB & BSB, Irish Roads etc - (https://www.ttwebsite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=13) +--- Thread: Sykes sets new unofficial Aragon benchmarks (/showthread.php?tid=12917)

Sykes sets new unofficial Aragon benchmarks - Malcolm - 20-03-2012 Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) has demolished all the Aragon circuit records at the conclusion of two days of Superbike private testing in Spain. On Sunday the British rider had lapped in a time of 1 minute 58.4 seconds, four-tenths under Checa's lap record, but today on soft tyres he went even quicker to record a 1 minute 57.2 seconds lap, which knocks almost half a second off the 2011 pole time. With this performance, Sykes confirmed that he and the team are now on the right track following their Phillip Island podium, and are gearing up to repeat this form in less than two week's time at Imola. Aragon also saw promising form recorded by the two BMW Motorrad team riders. Marco Melandri was able to test a new swing-arm and suspension link, which gave positive results, while Leon Haslam tried out a new spec engine. The British rider proved to be particularly impressive on softer tyres, which his Italian team-mate did not use. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) set some fast times in the morning session, his quickest being a 1'58.8 lap, the 2010 champion trying out an evo-spec engine that Aprilia will bring to the world championship rounds from Monza onwards, but the Italian finished the test session early. Overall times (unofficial): 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'57.2; 2. Haslam (BMW) 1'58.2; 3. Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1'58.2; 4. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'58.8; 5. Melandri (BMW) 1'59.1; 6. Laverty (Aprilia) 1'59.5; 7. Mercado (Kawasaki) 2'00.9. .