GBmoto Kawasaki’s James Ellison set the fastest time in the this morning 's opening MCE British Superbike free practice session at Oulton Park but was pushed hard by Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne.
Ellison was one of the first riders out of the starting blocks and set the pace with a 1’37.177, but soon Byrne went quicker with a 1’36.234, followed by Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari.
But the GBmoto rider left it till there was only three minutes left of the first session to clock the quickest time of the day so far at a sunny but cold track – a 1’36.289 which is only a second slower than Alex Lowes' pole time from the series' second visit last year.
Ellison then went back in the pits and when the chequered flag appeared Byrne completed a last lap dash, but it was not enough, and crossed the line with a 1’36.294, going one one-hundredth of a second slower than Ellison.
Byrne’s team-mate Stuart Easton ended the morning third fastest, followed by Kiyo and GBmoto’s Chris Walker who rounded out the top five.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes just missed out on the top five by three-one thousandths of a second while Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins only completed six laps, and never made it inside the top 20 fastest times throughout the whole 45 minute session. He ended the morning in 25th with a 1’42.138.
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