Shane Byrne kept up his dominant streak by taking pole with a 1m 25.8s lap, knocking off the best of a second from his fastest practice time. Cal Crutchlow took a second ahead of Karl Harris whilst Leon Haslam slipped down the order slightly in fourth and rounding off the top five was Tom Sykes. The session ended five minutes early due to a ferocious sudden downfall, this was fortunate for Sykes who’s bike suddenly stopped allowing him to keep his fifth position. Team-mate Astushi Watanabe took his highest position all weekend and will be sitting in a stunning ninth for tomorrow’s race knocking another second off his fastest time. Scott Smart, now the sole rider for Hawk Kawasaki, came off within the first five minutes of the session, but remounted and ended the session in 19^th. Steve Plater returned bruised and battered from his crash this morning to take 13^th, half a second faster putting into him the late 1m 28s. There was a turn around within the cup championship with James Buckingham taking the top rider position ahead of John Laverty by .02s. James Buckingham has constantly been running 4^th or 5^th throughout the weekend to then leap into the 1m 28s to make his presence known. Steve Mercer yet again rounded off the top three.
Results
Free Practice Three Shane Byrne ended this morning practice on top with exactly the same time as HM Plant Honda Cal Crutchlow. The joint leaders ran at a 1m 26.9s in front of Leon Haslam in third with a 1m 27.0s. With the weather deteriorating overnight the track was still drying through the morning session. Alex McConnell set his fastest time of the weekend with 1m 28.8s. He explained: ‘It went really well, I am really happy with it. We changed a lot to the setup of the bike and it worked really well.’ When asked about the condition of the track and the tyres he said: ‘It was ok because there was a drying line that the supersport guys had made, so it wasn’t a problem. I have ridden on Pirellis for the past couple of years so it hasn’t really affected me as I have an understanding of them already.’ The noticeable man of the morning was again Simon Andrews who set his fastest time so far this weekend of 1m 27.5s to finish fourth ahead of Karl Harris by 0.002s. He made slight setup alterations throughout the session and is having a successful weekend for the one man and bike team. The session was red flagged with 12 minutes to go due to Steve Plater crashing at Stirlings. The rider was taken to the medical centre, but at present his condition is unknown. Steve Mercer of the Daily Star cup ended the session ahead of John Laverty, proving he is one to watch this season.