Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill has topped the first British Superbike free practice this morning at a dry Oulton Park, lapping half a second faster than title rival Josh Brookes in a session that was stopped under the new no-restart rule.
Supersonic BMW man Patric Muff dived off his S1000RR but was unhurt. However, race direction called a halt to proceedings so his bike could be recovered to the pits as each rider only has one fully-built bike to use at any one time.
At the restart, Hill came out all guns blazing to demote the Paul Bird Kawasaki of Shane Byrne and then bettered it with a blistering 1'36.385 to get within a second of the existing Superbike lap record. Byrne had no answer to Hill's pace and remained seven-tenths in arrears but Brookes stepped up and was the only other man to go under the 1'37s barrier on a 1'36.938.
WFR Honda's Alex Lowes took fourth place but is some 1.2s slower than Hill while veteran Chris Walker, who is relishing the new rules, was fifth and just ahead of current series leader Ian Lowry on the Padgett's Honda.
Michael Laverty, on the Samsung Honda, is in seventh place with James Westmoreland, Noriyuki Haga and Luca Scassa rounding out the top ten.
