Sam Lowes stays on top as official test draws to an end

World Supersport teams have completed today the second and last official testing day at Phillip Island, prior to the Season Opener that is taking place the upcoming weekend. Despite the temperature fall and the cloudy skies above the circuit, Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) was able to drop 0.443 seconds off his Day 1 best lap time to top the timesheets at the end of the morning session.

The rider from Lincoln has put a 0.181 gap between himself and second placed Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), with Gabor Talmacsi (Prorace Honda), Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) and Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) to follow.

The session was red flagged with 30 minutes to go due to technical problems occurred to Sheridan Morais' PTR Honda CBR600RR, and after the restart a quick rain shower passed through. The surface dried up quickly thanks to the brand-new asphalt, allowing the riders to spent the last 10 minutes on track.

Lowes was able to further improve his best lap-time up to a remarkable 1'33.076 - almost 8 tenths of a second quicker than the best lap - that helped him finish as fastest of the whole test for the Supersport class. Mahi Racing Team India placed Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret in 2nd and 3rd place respectively, not far time-wise from the leader despite a technical problem for the Frenchman towards the end.

Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) was able to climb up to 4th place at his last attempt before the chequered flag was waved. The Dutch rider finished ahead of David Salom (Intermoto Ponyexpres Kawasaki), Gabor Talmacsi (Prorace Honda) and Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha).

Austrian's David Linortner (Team Honda PTR) crashed out of turn 12 halfway through the afternoon session, while Eduard Blokhin (Rivamoto Honda) fell off his CBR600RR with 12 minutes to go before the end of the test.

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Michel Fabrizio on the move after FP1

The first round of the season has finally got underway, as World Superbike riders got on track for Free Practice 1. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) showed immediate speed and confirmed the good indications of early week's official testing by topping the timesheets of the 45 minutes session. The competitive 1'31.218 lap-time set onboard his RSV4 was 0.5 second faster than 2nd place Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) in 3rd.

The last rider to get into the 1'31 bracket is Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), fourth ahead of BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team duo of Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Jonathan Rea (PATA Honda World Superbike).

An unfortunate session for Team Ducati Alstare as both Carlos Checa (9th) and Ayrton Badovini (18th) crashed between a matter of a seconds at different parts of the circuit. The 2011 World Superbike Champion had an high-side at Turn 5, while the former BMW rider fell off his 1199 Panigale R at Swan Corner.

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Ronaldinho sets up Atletico victory

Rio de Janeiro: Ronaldinho set up both his team’s goals as Atletico Mineiro opened their 2013 Copa Libertadores campaign with a 2-1 victory over Brazilian rivals Sao Paulo.

Playing in South America’s leading club competition for the first time in 13 years, Atletico dominated the first half at their Estadio Independencia in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday.

The first goal came when an unmarked Ronaldinho pounced on a long throw-in before crossing for former Manchester City striker Jo, whose first-time finish left goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni with no chance.

Rever made it 2-0 when he headed in another Ronaldinho cross from the right in the 72nd minute before Sao Paulo’s Aloisio gave his side a flicker of hope late in the match when he struck with a low shot after Luis Fabiano’s defence-splitting pass.

Atletico coach Cuca lavished praise on Ronaldinho, who returned to Brazil’s national team for the first time since February last year in the Selecao’s 1-2 defeat to England at Wembley Stadium earlier this month.

“Ronaldinho made the difference with his two crosses,” Cuca said. “He is intelligent. You can’t expect him to do some things, like track back in defence, but his quality makes him a match winner.”

In other Libertadores matches on Wednesday, Boca Juniors suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Mexico’s Toluca, Fluminense overcame Caracas away 1-0 and Penarol defeated hosts Iquique 2-1.

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Everton on the road to Moyes’ first silverware

Match to catch
After shocking Liverpool 3-2 at home in the previous round of the FA Cup, Oldham Athletic are back in the spotlight again this weekend. The Latics, who are in the relegation zone in English football’s third tier and who will be managed by caretaker boss Tony Philliskirk following the resignation of Paul Dickov earlier this month, this time get to take on the Reds’ Merseyside rivals Everton at Boundary Park. The Toffees always take this competition seriously as it gives them a realistic chance of winning the first silverware of David Moyes’ 11-year reign — the closest they have come previously is FA Cup runners-up to Chelsea in 2009 — and they can be expected to learn from their bitter rivals’ mistakes. Prediction: Everton.

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Maradona acknowledges ‘Dieguito’ is his son

Buenos Aires: Argentine football great Diego Maradona says the baby born to his former partner earlier this week — named Diego Fernando at birth — “won’t lack for anything”.

The former Al Wasl boss was criticised because he was in Dubai when Veronica Ojeda gave birth on Wednesday in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.

He acknowledged on Friday in a statement that he is the father of the baby being referred to in Argentina as ‘Dieguito’, or Little Diego.

The child is the fifth known to be fathered by the 52-year-old Maradona. He has two daughters from his marriage with Claudia Vallafane — Dalma and Giannina and has two other children he has never recognised as his, although courts in paternity cases have ruled he is the father.

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We’re stronger than in 1999: Ferguson

Manchester: Sir Alex Ferguson believes the 1999 treble-winning squad was not nearly as strong as his current Manchester United group, and said he could have played a different XI at Real Madrid on Wednesday and achieved the same result.

United drew the opening leg of the Champions League last-16 tie 1-1. With Reading on Monday at Old Trafford in the fifth round of the FA Cup, and a 12-point lead in the Premier League, United’s tilt at winning a second treble is on course.

Asked about similarities between the 1998-99 campaign and the current one, Ferguson said: “We lost to Middlesbrough in December and we never lost again. It was a tough FA Cup run that season, really tough. We were up against Premier League teams in every round. It’s nice to look back at these things and how it was done with the squad of players I had, which is not nearly as strong as the one I have now.”

Ferguson believes the current group has more depth than the squad in 1999. “Yes, numbers wise,” he said. “When we went to the final, [Roy] Keane and [Paul] Scholes were suspended, but Henning Berg was the only injury and I had to pull in Jonathan Greening, who had only played once or twice, and he actually got a winner’s medal for sitting on the bench. That gives you an idea of the respective strength of the squads.

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Spanish cyclist wins third stage of tour de Singkarak

Tanah Datar, West Sumatra - Spanish racer Oscar Pujol Munoz won the third stage of Tour de Singkarak (TdS) 2012, which started at Payakumbuh and ended in front of the Istano Basa Pagaruyung, Tanah Datar district, on Wednesday.

The rider, who is part of the Iranian Azad University team, won the third stage in two hours, 37 minutes and 40 seconds.

He was followed by Joel Pearson from Genesys Wealth Advisers, who clocked two hours, 37 minutes and 48 seconds.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan from Malaysia`s Trengganu Cycling Team reached the finish line in two hours, 37 minutes and 48 seconds.

Indonesian racer Robin Manulang from the Araya Team only ranked seventh, clocking in at two hours, 37 minutes and 47 seconds.

On Tuesday (June 5), Taiwan racer Hsiao Shihhsin won the second stage after he reached the finish line in three hours, eight minutes and 43 seconds.

The racer from the Action Cycling Team defeated two Australian cyclists, Alexander Edmonson from the Australia National Team and Alexander Smyth from Australian Plan B Racing.

The Indonesian racers who ranked among the top ten during the second stage include Nunung Burhanudin and Putra Perjuangan, followed by Bambang Suryadi from Polygon Sweet Nice; the third position was taken by Budi Santoso from WSP Management, whose time record was three hours, eight minutes and 43 seconds.

The international event of TdS will continue from June 4 to June 10, 2012, and altogether extend over seven stages, during which the participants will cover 856 kilometers.

The first stage of TdS was held at Sawahlunto-Sijunjung; the second, at Muara Sijunjung-Lembah Harau; the third, at Payakumbuh-Istana Basa Pagaruyung; the fourth will cover Sicincin Anai Golf-Bukittinggi; the fifth, Padang Panjang-Singkarak; the sixth, Pariaman-Painan; and the seventh stage will include the Padang Circuit Race. (B003)

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