Image: Supplied.

Kawasaki Racing Team teammates Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes were fastest in the Motul Superbike World Championship practice at the Chang International Circuit.

Each of the best eight in the combined results set their fastest time in the third session and rankings were therefore changeable throughout.

But world champion Rea continued a day of steady improvement, climbing from 11th in FP1 to fourth in FP2 and finally to lead the list of automatic qualifiers to Saturday’s Superpole session.

Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) was the biggest name not to improve in FP3 as, after heading the time-sheets in FP2, he collided with Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) in dramatic fashion. Both riders bit the asphalt, but climbed back aboard their machines.

Both finished comfortably inside the top 10 despite the incident and Fores – who finished FP1 on top – remained the lead Independent rider as has become his custom in 2018, while Laverty dropped back to ninth.

Behind the lead British duo on the timesheets, Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished third, ahead of Aruba.it Racing Ducati runners Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies in fourth and fifth. Australian double winner Melandri found almost a second to leap from 10th to fourth and Davies showing no ill effects after a crash in FP2.

Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda) was the top Honda runner throughout, with Yamaha also represented in the top 10 through Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha). The Dutchman finished the session just two thousandths of a second clear of crash duo Fores and Laverty, with his teammate Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) occupying the last of the top 10 positions.

A familiar pecking order emerged after free practice two for the Supersport World Championship (WorldSSP) in Thailand. The lead duo in the series after the Australian round, Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha) and Randy Krummenacher (Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha), were comfortably fastest in FP1, but saw their advantage slashed in the second session.

Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) closed over half a second on Mahias’ 1m37.469s time and to within three tenths of a second of top spot. But the Italian’s new fastest time only enabled him to remain in third position, just ahead of Jules Cluzel, who completed a lead quartet of Yamaha runners.

Of the Australians in the field, Anthony West (EAB West Racing Kawasaki) was fifth on the time-sheets, with Team GoEleven Kawasaki teammates Lachlan Epis and newcomer Ted Collins slotting into 23rd and 26th positions respectively.

Detailed results