Lead Man Randy Leaves It Late
Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) displaced eventual second place qualifier Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) from the Friday top spot, right at the end of two sessions of Motorland WorldSSP action – one in the wet and then one in dry conditions.
With fully nine riders not having set times within 107% of the leading competitor in the damp morning session the dry track conditions in the afternoon saw riders make their most meaningful machine set-ups, and set their fastest times.
Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing Yamaha) was third in his third ever WorldSSP weekend, ahead of Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) and Jules Cluzel (NRT Yamaha).
The trend of supremacy from the first rounds continued on in the first European race of the season, with all top five places held by riders on the R6 Yamaha. The top five were also covered by only 0.118 seconds.
The first Triumph in the day one rankings belonged to Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing Triumph) in sixth position, but 0.606 seconds behind Krummenacher.
Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) placed seventh on a three-cylinder machine of his own, the first of only two MVs in the 2018 Motorland entry.
Kyle Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini Honda) was top Honda runner at his adopted home race in Spain, eighth. Former WorldSBK works rider for Ducati, Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag), was ninth. The top ten was rounded out by Michael Canducci (Team GoEleven Kawasaki), who has recovered from a heavy head knock in a previous round and made a strong comeback to be top Kawasaki rider today.
Anthony West (EAB antwest Racing Kawasaki) was 14th on his privateer bike, with Kenan Sofuoglu stand-in rider Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 15th in a field of 28. Young Aussie Lachlan Epis (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) was 24th, with British riders Stefan Hill (Profile Racing Triumph) and Andrew Irwin (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 26th and 28th respectively.
Krummenacher, WSS, Aragon WSBK 2018