Sykes quickest for Kawasaki on day 1 of Aragon tests

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Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz set the top two times on the first of two days of testing on Sunday at Aragon which sees the participation of Kawasaki Racing Team, Aprilia Racing, BMW Motorrad and Kawasaki Pedercini.
The 26 year-old British rider lapped the Motorland track in a time of 1 minute 58.4 seconds, four tenths of a second beneath the 2011 lap record set by world champion Carlos Checa (Althea Racing), who is not taking part in this test. The Kawasaki riders, who had already tested one day in the dry at Aragon last November, confirmed the progress made during the opening round of the world championship at Phillip Island.


BMW Motorrad brought a series of new solutions including an evo-spec engine and a new swing-arm to help resolve the problems experienced by Marco Melandri and Leon Haslam at Phillip Island where in any case the Italian rider still managed to score BMW's best-ever result, a second place in race 1.


Aprilia also brought along a new engine for Max Biaggi and Eugene Laverty, who is still recovering from a bone fracture in his right hand he picked up during testing in Australia. Points leader Biaggi was fifth quickest, more than a second off the pace of Sykes.


Conditions at Aragon on Sunday were sunny, but cold and windy. Testing concludes today Monday.


Unofficial times: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'58"4 (55 laps); 2. Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1'58"9 (74); 3.Haslam (BMW) 1'59"2 (48); 4. Melandri (BMW) 1'59"3 (80); 5. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'59"5 (60); 6. Laverty (Aprilia) 2'00"4 (40); 7. Mercado (Kawasaki) 2'02"5.

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