Marco Melandri is trying to prevent Carlos Checa from securing the 2011 World Superbike Championship title this weekend, but the Yamaha rider could get a little help from around the grid. Jonathan Rea was the fastest bike on the grid today during the first qualifying session at Imola, beating out Checa, Leon Haslam, and Michel Fabrizio.
Rea, who has missed several rounds this year due to an injury, only returned to action at Nurburgring. The Castrol Honda rider has been in fine form, and now riding with the new ride-by-wire technology after a recent rule change, Rea has found some extra speed.
Rea clocked a 1'48.241 laptime around the Imola circuit, beating out the points leader by .15 seconds. Haslam and Fabrizio crossed the line a half second off of the pace, while Marco Melandri finished just slightly slower with a 1'48.844.
All 10 of the fastest riders today at Imola finished within a second of Rea's pace.
World Superbike - First Qualifying - Imola
- Jonathan Rea
- Carlos Checa
- Leon Haslam
- Michel Fabrizio
- Marco Melandri
- Tom Sykes
- Sylvain Guintoli
- Maxime Berger
- Noriyuki Haga
- Jakub Smrz
