Laconi tops fast practice session at Monza

The first free practice session at the Monza World Superbike round has finished with Regis Laconi heading the table on his Ducati 998RS with a time of 1:47.976, just 0.5 seconds outside Troy Bayliss’ fastest lap from last year.

Sitting just half a second behind Laconi is Frankie Chili who regularly tops the time sheets at Monza and has taken numerous podiums at his home circuit.

The HM Plant and Fila Ducati teams share the next four positions with James Toseland in third followed by Neil Hodgson, Chris Walker and Ruben Xaus.

The factory Ducati team spent the morning trying to get the best gearing for the 999 in the bike’s first visit to the track as well as working with the new Michelin tyre compounds they tested for the first time last week at Michelin’s private test facility in Ladoux, France.

Gregorio Lavilla was the highest placed non-Ducati taking his Suzuki GSX-R1000R to a seventh fastest time of 1:50.188, ahead of three other Ducatis ridden by Steve Martin, Lucio Pedercini and Marco Borciani.

Check this site regularly for all the latest action from Monza as well as British Superbikes at Knockhill and live updates from the BMF show at the East of England Showground in Peterborough, the biggest motorcycle show in the country.

Times:

1 Laconi Régis 1’47.976 2 Chili Pierfrancesco 1’48.401 3 Toseland James 1’48.543 4 Hodgson Neil 1’48.943 5 Walker Chris 1’49.343 6 Xaus Ruben 1’50.018 7 Lavilla Gregorio 1’50.188 8 Martin Steve 1’50.653 9 Pedercini Lucio 1’50.729 10 Borciani Marco 1’50.988 11 Gramigni Alex 1’51.146 12 Blora Paolo 1’51.204 13 Iannuzzo Vittorio 1’51.258 14 Sanchini Mauro 1’51.301 15 Corser Troy 1’51.547 16 Clementi Ivan 1’51.656 17 Borja Juan Bautista 1’51.968 18 Haydon James 1’51.981 19 Foti Serafino 1’52.014 20 Bussei Giovanni 1’52.260 21 Fuertes Sergio 1’54.427 22 Tortoroglio Walter 1’55.583 23 Mauri Lorenzo 1’55.694 24 Masetti Marco 1’56.146

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