Kawasaki Racing’s Tom Sykes led the field in an action-packed opening practice from the TT Circuit Assen, with team-mate Jonathan Rea a couple of tenths back in second.
Sykes comes into this weekend still suffering from a virus which materialised just before the Aragon round, and which has seen him in hospital following the one-day test at the Spanish venue two weeks ago.
Despite battling fatigue, Sykes was still able to set the pace during the session’s dummy qualifying run in the closing stages. Sitting second for much of the hour, the Yorkshireman shot to the top of the pile with a 1m35.676s.
Championship leader Rea was unable to improve on his 1m35.891s set earlier in the session, and heads into this afternoon’s running second overall. Ducati’s Chaz Davies was just under a tenth further back in third as he seeks his maiden Assen victory in World Superbikes.
Home hero Michael van der Mark left it late, but he gave the local support something to cheer about when he jumped up from outside of the top 10 to fourth with a 1m36.183, whilst team-mate Alex Lowes slipped t 11th after crashing at Turn 12 in the final few minutes.
Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores completed the top five on his Ducati, with Nicky Hayden sixth quickest on his Honda. Alex de Angelis put in a stunning effort on the Pedercini Kawasaki to end FP1 seventh fastest ahead of Eugene Laverty, Jordi Torres and Marco Melandri.
Leon Camier had been inside the top 10 for much of the hour, but was shuffled back to 12th by the chequered flag. Thankfully, however, he made it through FP1 without any mechanical gremlins appearing for the first time this season.
Lorenzo Savadori battled technical problems with his Milwaukee Aprilia in FP1 and was 13th as a result, with Stefan Bradl, who crashed right at the death whilst on a quick lap, and Leandro Mercado on his Ioda Aprilia completing top 15.
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