Sykes storms to the top in first qualifying in Moscow

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) snatched first position from Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) in World Superbike Qualifying 1, after lapping the 3,931m of Moscow Raceway in 1'35.567 seconds at the very last moment.

The Championship leader managed to make the difference in the final section of the track and crossed the line with a 0.048 seconds advantage over the Italian.

All six manufacturers involved in the series were very well represented in the first seven positions, as Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) ended up third for less than a tenth of a second on Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare), Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team), Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) and Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike).

While Laverty proved to be in good shape, team mate Sylvain Guintoli had to deal with the pain caused by the injury sustained last week during a cycling training session. The dislocated right shoulder gave the Frenchman some hard time today, but Guintoli chose to take it steady and to avoid painkillers in the morning's Free Practice 1 session.

World Superbike debutant Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini Kawasaki), substitute rider for regular Alex Lundh, managed to put in only five laps before a technical problem on his ZX-10R forced him to sit out most of the session.

WSBK