Crutchlow leaves Imola fastest

From the World Superbike Championship

Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) was in dazzling form in the final session of testing at Imola, posting the fastest time of 1:47.478 on Wednesday to beat the previous track best from last year’s race. The English rider used a race tire to set his best time.

The next three riders who were fastest over the two days of the tests had to rely on earlier lap times to take their places in the final rankings, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) second, on a 1:47.854 that he set this morning.

“I got through a bit of stuff today," Crutchlow said. "It was a good enough job and we strung quite a few good laps together and did 30-odd laps on one of the new tires. So all-in-all, not too bad. We will keep going and see what we can do in the next races.”

Leon Haslam (Alstare Suzuki) had two big crashes on Wednesday, the second a collision with his fellow Briton Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati), with Byrne cutting his hand and suffering a suspected broken second metacarpal bone. Haslam was still third fastest overall, but was reliant on his day one best time.

Jonathan Rea was faster Wednesday than Tuesday on his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR, and the last rider with a time inside the 1:47s.

A somewhat rejuvenated Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) was fifth, heading off third place rider in the overall championship standings, Carlos Checa (Althea Ducati).

Ruben Xaus was fast in the morning session, going seventh overall in the standings but stopping early to rest the leg he hurt in a collision with another rider at Misano on Sunday.

Before his late session fall, Byrne had done enough to secure eighth place, one up on championship leader Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia).

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) rounded out a top 10 of great variety, with all seven competing manufacturers represented.

In the Supersport division, which was scheduled alongside the Superbikes for two days, Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was the fastest with a 1:51.572 lap from the morning.

In Tuesday’s session for the Superstock 1000 runners the rankings were headed by Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia STK) who recorded a lap time of 1:52.375.