The first day of action in the WorldSSP class at Sepang in Malaysia belonged to America’s PJ Jacobsen (Honda World Supersport Team) but it was the proverbial day of two halves.
The first dry session at Sepang determined every best lap time set by each individual rider, as the threatening rains finally arrived in monsoon fashion in the afternoon, adding to the delayed start to the second session of practice that counts towards qualifying.
Thanks to his morning lap time of 2’10.162 Jacobsen pushed his way to the top by 0.205 seconds, holding off the charge of Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) who struck a technical issue at the end of one of his fast laps.
Third was the top MV rider of the season once more, Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who was one place up on his team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse).
Long time championship leader pre-Imola, Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was fifth, Nicolas Terol (Schmidt Racing MV Agusta) sixth. Gino Rea (GRT Racing Team MV Agusta) provided the fourth MV in the top seven places.
As well as the two top factory Kawasakis, Ondrej Jezek (Team GOELEVEN Kawasaki) and local rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) were eighth and ninth.
Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. Honda Racing) completed a top ten that was covered by just over a second. Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing Triumph) was 16th, the first and only Triumph rider in the field.
