Cluzel and Checa dominate the first SBK test session in Moscow

The World Superbike and Supersport Championship is holding its pre-race test at the Moscow Raceway, where this weekend will see the 11th round of the season for both championships, so there is great interest in this world championship debut, undoubtedly one of the tracks that has generated the most interest since its addition to the 2012 calendar was announced.

Everything was set for the riders and teams’ first contact with this new circuit, although the start was not very good, as the start of the test had to be delayed because of what seems to have been a delay on the part of the marshals… which is not very common. But the moment finally arrived, and after a delay of more than an hour the Supersport riders were released for their first session.

The SSP session went normally, with technical problems for Nemeth and nothing more, but something happened to rider Toth, who was shown the black flag, and afterwards the red flag was shown during the practice. We do not know whether Toth left something on the track or some similar problem; we await more information on this, but the training sessions were halted.

During the restart, Fabien Foret crashed at turn 3, and Marconi at turn 15; both are fine. The first session closed with Jules Cluzel as the fastest at 1:40.370, followed by Sam Lowes at 0.539s, Parkes 3rd, Scholtz 4th, Foret 5th, Baldolini 6th, Quarmby 7th, Talmacsi 8th, Morais 9th and Tamburini 10th.

Then it was the Superbikes’ turn; they took to the track and shortly after starting Niccolò Canepa crashed without consequences, but a red flag was shown. After the stoppage Checa began to lower lap times, without knowing very well what the limit or the best time might be in these first contacts with the track. After lap 7, Tom Sykes, Leon Haslam, Jonathan Rea and Marc Melandri joined the party of lowering lap times.

But finally the best lap after the first session went to Carlos Checa and his Ducati at 1:37.189, leaving Haslam just under two tenths behind, so the times at the front are tight. Meanwhile there was a crash, like Laverty’s at turn 3, without consequences, and shortly before the end Davide Giugliano crashed just as he had managed a good fourth position. For his part, Sylvain Guintoli was excluded from the session; we do not know exactly why, but that is what the official documents indicate, so we will see what happened.

First session with good feelings for Checa 1st, Haslam 2nd, Aoyama 3rd, Sykes 4th, Rea 5th, Giugliano 6th, Melandri 7th, Fabrizio 8th, Biaggi 9th and Hopkins 10th. The Japanese rider of Honda made an incredible jump in the final minutes of the session, first to 10th position and then to 3rd. For their part, our representatives have not done badly, as Checa was 1st and David Salom 16th, starting to work on this Russian track.

Photo | WorldSBK