Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes was the fastest rider out on the Donington Park circuit in the final MCE British Superbike free practice session this morning.
The Derby lad left it till there was only 30 seconds left to top the timesheets, toppling Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne in the process. Lowes was in fifth for the majority of the free practice session, but continued to improve till he was second fastest. But a time of 1’30.710 cemented the 22-year-old's place on provisional pole. But just as the chequered flag appeared he did one better and clocked a 1’30.375.
Halsall Racing’s Tommy Bridewell was never far behind Lowes on the timesheets, and on his last lap the Devizes swearbox went second fastest with a 1’30.832, meaning Byrne was pushed back again, and ended the session third quickest with a 1’30.841.
Buildbase BMW James Westmoreland was consistently fast this morning. With one and a half minutes to go the quiet Yorkshireman soared into the top five, but was able to improve with one minute to go to ride a 1’31.078 that placed him fourth fastest on the timesheets. Westmoreland ended up pushing Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes to fifth after going one tenths of a second quicker than the Aussie rider.
Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was inside the top three quickest times in the first half of the session, but could not improve on his 1’31.332 lap and finished the final free practice in seventh, just behind Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Keith Farmer.
It was the battle of the Milwaukee Yamaha team-mates as to who could outpace the other. This time Cumbrian, James Ellison went one tenths of a second quicker than Australian, Josh Waters with a 1'31.342 lap. Padgett’s rider Jakub Smrz rounded off the top ten with a 1’31.427.
