World Superbikes – Donington – Saturday Morning Report

This morning, the collective depression of the photographers who didn’t ger their shots yesterday was palpable. The grey skies of Derbyshire were back and the light was dim and depressing. Cold tyres followed and the morning session was punctuated with bikes hitting the scenery; for instance, Biaggi chucked both his bikes down the road, presumably to the ire of his mechanics who have to get them both ready for the 13:45 free practice.

In spite of this, Biaggi was still at the top of the heap at the end of the final qualifying session, ahead of his two fellow MotoGP winners Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa.

Laverty and Rea went well, split by the qualifier extraordinaire Smrz with the BMWs of Haslam and Corser filling out the top eight. Notably, Rea was fastest in the cold, with nobody else in the top eight improve on their times yesterday.

The weather isn’t going to get any better, according to the Met Office. Grim and grey are the order of the day, with possible drizzle tomorrow. Whoever goes fast in the free practice later should be on target for a good race tomorrow, unless it rains at which point all bets are off.

Supersport? Sam Lowes and Luca Scassa are duking it out with Ellison and Davies in the mix. Gino Rea is in 13th, but he is both injured and … um, crashy. Early days, though and they have one more qualifying session.