Michel Fabrizio leads field in QP1 at Phillip Island

with TWOWHEELSBLOG
 Michel Fabrizio was once again the fastest rider in the first qualifying practice at Phillip Island after dominating FP1, and topping the timesheets in the last eight minutes of the session with a best lap of 1’31″317 (slightly slower than in FP1) but is was enough to keep the resurgent Eugene Laverty at bay by a mere 0.075s and making it two Aprilia’s on the top.
BMW’s Marco Melandri ended his day in third place, a little more two tenths from the top, and he worked on his race pace for most the session, while Leon Camier was fourth holding off a trio of his fellow countryman, Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam and Kawasaki’s injured Tom Sykes all covered in less than half of a second.
Althea’s Davide Giugliano was seventh, followed by Sylvain Guintoli and Jonathan Rea who closed out the top ten. While an impressive Jamie Stauffer was 11th a little less than seven tenths from the top after just three days of testing with Pirelli tires.

Also getting into the provisional Superpole shootout (only 15 riders this year) was other wildcard rider Glenn Allerton in 14th.
Carlos Checa, who was able to complete only a handful of laps following his crash earlier in the day that left him with a badly bruised foot after his Panigale fell on him was just 12th, but still well within a second from the top.
Max Neukirchner was 13th and Loris Baz, 15th who seems to be suffering from confidence issues after his pre-season test crash.
WSBK Phillip Island QP1 results:
01- Michel Fabrizio – Red Devils Roma – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 1’31.317
02- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.075
03- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team – BMW S1000RR HP4 – + 0.222
04- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.291
05- Chaz Davies – BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team – BMW S1000RR HP4 – + 0.321
06- Leon Haslam – Pata Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.370
07- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.437
08- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.476
09- Sylvain Guintoli – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.546
10- Jonathan Rea – Pata Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.567