Alex Lowes and Shane Byrne were the fastest two men on track during free practice at Knockhill today; ahead of round 4 of the MCE British Superbike Championship this weekend. Both the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider and the Samsung Honda regularly traded places at the top of the time sheets; before Byrne, set the quickest time of the day with a 48.774 second lap in the dying moments of the session.
Picture Credit: www.power-images.co.uk
Byrne set the early pace before a stoppage in proceedings halted the session; whist Martin Jessop was taken to the medical centre following a crash at the, newly renamed, Arnold Clark Chicane. Once the session resumed, Lowes posted a 49.040 second lap to take the lead, however, Byrne retaliated with a 49.016 second lap of his own, to regain the lead. Lowes then went on to record his quickest time of the day, circulating at an average speed of 93.65mph to post a 48.870s lap. Bynre then matched the speed of Lowes, only to fall short of his time by 00.001 of a second.
Both riders continued to push, which ultimately saw Lowes come sliding off his bike at the hairpin. In a mad few moments, Michael Rutter pulled up with technical issues with his Bathams Honda and Keith Farmer crashed his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki into the air fencing; enforcing another stoppage to proceedings with only 6 minutes left in the session.
Those 6 minutes though, provided Byrne with ample time to post his; and the, quickest time of the day. The Londoner, navigating his Superbike 0.096 seconds quicker round Knockhill than Lowes, to retake top spot on the time sheets.
Isle of Man TT star, Josh Brookes pushed himself and the Tyco Suzuki up to third in the closing stages. Meanwhile, this morning’s improvement for Kiyonari continued, eventually finishing the session in 6th place behind GBmoto’s Peter Hickman and Buildbase BMW Motorrad rider James Westmorland. Milwaukee Yamaha’s, James Ellison and Josh Waters have some ground to make up and could only finish 16th and 20th on the time sheets.
Saturday should be really interesting, apart from Lowes and Byrne, fourteen riders all recorded 49 second lap times, setting up an extremely tight final practice session before qualifying at 2.40pm tomorrow afternoon.
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In the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship, Scotsman, Stuart Easton was the man on form, posting the quickest practice time of 50.087seconds, closely followed by Smith’s Triumph rider Glen Richards. Easton’s closest Championship rival, Alastair Seeley was fourth quickest, with Gearlink Kawasaki team-mate, Ben Wilson sandwiched in between in third.
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Knockhill, free practice two:
- Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 48.774s
- Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) +0.096s
- Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.564s
- Peter Hickman (Lloyds British GBmoto Honda) +0.629s
- James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) +0.751s
- Ryuichi Kiyonari (Samsung Honda) +0.852s
- Dan Linfoot (Lloyds British GBmoto Honda) +0.866s
- Jakub Smrz (Padgetts Honda) +0.920s
- Howie Mainwaring (MH Kawasaki) +0.968s
- PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +0.990s
Join us this weekend for what promises to be a spectacular MCE British Superbike Championship event at Knockhill Racing Circuit.
There are loads of tickets still available! You can book tickets online with pre-booking discounts or by paying at the gate throughout the weekend.