Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes was the fastest rider out on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit for the official MCE British Superbike test session this afternoon. The youngster ousted Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison from the top of the timesheets with eight minutes to go.
Ellison did dominate for most of the 45 minutes that the bikes were out on track, and it appeared that he secured his place at the top with a 46.308 time. But Lowes went three tenths of a second faster and catapulted his way from third to first fastest on the track with his best time of 46.259 on his 18th lap, but five laps later the Derby lad went one better and improved on his time to clock a 46.098.
Lowes’ team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari was never outside the top three fastest times, and even found himself leading the charge and setting the quickest time of 46.376, but that was not to last as he was pushed down to third by Ellison and Lowes.
Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne ended the afternoon, fourth fastest during the test on the Indy circuit, followed by Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes who rounded off the top five quickest times.
Padgett’s Honda rider Jakub Smrz set a 46.808, to clock the sixth fastest time, but only one thousandths of a second behind the Czech Republic racer was GBmoto’s Dan Linfoot. Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland and his rather taller team-mate Jon Kirkham were the eighth and ninth fastest bikes, with Westmoreland ending the testing session one tenth of a second faster than Kirkham.Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Chris Walker rounded off the top ten.
There were no red or yellow flags during the testing session, but GBmoto’s Peter Hickman crashed out at Paddock Hill, but was uninjured.
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