The opening practice session of the MCE British Superbike Championship got underway in predictable fashion today; with Share Byrne topping the timesheets on a track that seems to suit the PBM Kawasaki, with Byrne’s teammate Stuart Easton setting the second fastest time.
After an early foray from Josh Brookes, it was soon the PBM Kawasaki of Byrne who’d hit the top of the timing screens with only 28 minutes of the session remaining. Byrne’s time of 48.734 seconds would see him be the only rider to dip into the 48 second bracket, ahead of Bridewell, Easton, Mossey and Westmoreland.
As the session progressed, with the order changing on a lap-by-lap basis, Byrne would further improve his time to 48.487secs, just 0.375 seconds shy of Ryuichi Kiyonari’s pole setting time from last year. As the moments ticked down, both Easton and Brookes would further improve their times to take the 2nd and 3rd spots on the timesheets, with the top ten riders finishing as follows:
1. Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 48.487s
2. Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) +0.278s
3. Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.313s
4. Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.321s
5. Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.395s
6. Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.401s
7. James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.407s
8. Howie Mainwaring (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.485s
9. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.515s
10. Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW) +0.520s
The next MCE British Superbike session gets underway at 3.10pm and the top riders will be on track for another 45 minutes in search of those all-important last few tenths that will see them climb up the order.
The BSB riders will be in further action on Saturday (Qualifying) and Sunday (Racing) with advanced ticket discounts available via the Knockhill website. Alternatively, tickets will also be available on the gate throughout the weekend.
