Ducati’s Chaz Davies set the pace in the first session for the US World Superbike round from Laguna Seca, the Welshman nearly seven tenths clear of Eugene Laverty.
Davies was forced to miss the second race at Misano three weeks ago when he suffered a fracture to his back in a collision with championship leader Jonathan Rea in race one.
The Ducati rider was declared fit by medical staff on Thursday and showed no signs of his injuries slowing him down, Davies shooting to the top of the timesheets in the early stages of the hour-long session with a 1m24.287s.
Briefly deposed by Rea, Davies soon returned to the top of the pile with a 1m24.164s, before blitzing the field with a 1m23.425s in the closing stages.
Milwaukee Aprilia rider Laverty led the session after the first few minutes with a 1m24.444s, and jumped up to second late on with a 1m24.098s, edging the sister Ducati of Marco Melandri in third.
Rea was shuffled back to fourth after his short time at the head of the pack, the Kawasaki rider unable to improve on his 1m24.218s. MV Agusta’s Leon Camier was just a few hundredths adrift in fifth spot.
Tom Sykes completed the top six on the second factory ZX-10RR, the Yorkshireman 0.922 seconds off the pace. Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres slotted into seventh ahead of leading Yamaha man Alex Lowes and Honda’s Stefan Bradl.
Xavi Fores rounded out the top 10 on his Barni Racing Panigale, the Spaniard 1.5s off of factory counterpart Davies at the chequered flag.
Raffaele De Rosa was 11th fastest on the second Althea BMW, with Alex De Angelis heading Roman Ramos, Michael van der Mark and Leandro Mercado.
American Jake Gagne ended his first WorldSBK practice session 16th with a 1m25.801s, the MotoAmerica star drafted in for this weekend to replace late countryman Nicky Hayden.
Completing 21-strong field was WorldSBK returnee Jakub Smrz, who replaces Ricardo Russo at the Guandalini Yamaha team. The Czech rider’s session was halted early by a technical issue.
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