Mossey tops the opening BSB practice session at Knockhill

Free practice one at Knockhill has just taken place for the MCE British Superbike Championship riders and it was Luke Mossey riding his Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki who topped the times at the end of the 45-minute session.

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Thankfully, the session started off with the track in ideal condition and with only 5-minutes gone into the session, Luke Mossey popped to the top of the times with a 49.524 second lap; quickly followed by Linfoot, Haslam, Bridewell and Irwin.

The times continued to tumble throughout the session with John Hopkins, Shane Byrne, Jason O’Halloran and Michael Laverty all making progress into the 49-second bracket.

Just before the 30-minute mark, Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty became the first rider of the day to drop into the 48-second bracket. Remember, that Shane Byrne holds the qualifying record with a time of 48.153 secs set at last year’s event during qualifying, and yet we are only 7 tenths away after the opening 15 minutes of the 2016 event. Byrne reckoned he had a 47-second lap in him last year and that could be the target for the big-hitters in the class this weekend.

In an interview with Series Director Stuart Higgs on Thursday, he elaborated to the closeness/competitiveness across the field and that trend looks set to continue this weekend with the top 16 riders covered by a single second.

At the 20-minute mark, both Leon Haslam and Luke Mossy joined Laverty in the 48-second bracket with Byrne, O’Halloran and Cooper only a few tenths off the pace.

With 9mins remaining on the board, Leon Haslam who had spent a few laps sizing up the Knockhill track before going for a flyer, duly rocketed to the top of the timing screens with a 48.721 second effort; only for Mossey, on the 4 minute mark, to take two tenths out the entire field with a 48.507sec effort. Tellingly though, Shane Byrne also made the jump into the 48 second bracket with an 48.922 effort onboard his PBM Ducati.

With the time running down, both John Hopkins and Jason O’Halloran saved their best efforts for the closing stages, with Hopkins having to settle for P6 and O’Halloran taking the P4 spot. Laverty and Linfoot made a late surge up the times with Irwin’s session coming to a premature end after his PBM Ducati stopped at the Hairpin.

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Today is all about practice for the MCE British Superbike riders with a second session coming up at 16.05pm today. Tomorrow see’s the all important Datatag Extreme Qualifying session before the race action gets underway on Sunday 26th June with two feature BSB races.

Tickets for the event, taking place on 24/25/26 June, can be booked online via the Knockhill website – with pre-booking discounts available on all advanced ticket purchases. Alternatively, tickets will also be on the gate (subject to on the day pricing) during each day of the event. Gates will be open early-doors and it’s advised that you plan ahead for your journey to avoid any major delays.

Further info and ticket details can be found on our BSB event webpage (see below).

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