Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari led the charge from the other Showdown riders as he topped the opening MCE British Superbike free practice timesheets ahead of Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot, Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes.
The triple-champ, alongside Linfoot, were the only riders to reach the 1’37 barrier, with Kiyonari edging ahead with a 0.06 advantage over the Northerner, to take the fastest rider accolade this morning at a sunny Assen track.
Byrne was two tenths off the 1’37’s, with Brookes only one-sixth hundredths of a second slower to complete the top four. Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton had a solid session out on track and made his way into the top five.
Other Showdown riders, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell and GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker ended the morning in sixth and eleventh respectively on the timesheets. Walker’s team-mate, James Ellison is still nursing a leg injury, but appeared in fine form on track and ended the session seventh quickest, ahead of Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins.
At first it was Byrne who set the first flying lap, and was the first rider to lap inside the 1’38’s, after a 1’38.617, with 34 minutes remaining. But seconds later Kiyonari and Linfoot went five tenths quicker than the Kawasaki man. The Quattro Plant Kawasaki bike of Linfoot was certainly on a roll, and soon pushed his way into the 1’37’s and topped the sheets after a 1’37.865 rotation, after twenty minutes out on track.
But Kiyonari kept pushing ahead and managed to eek out 0.06 seconds to regain his place at the top of the timing-screens. Meanwhile his team-mate James Westmoreland had a technical problem at turn 8, and came to a stop while 16th fastest.
Meanwhile Alstare Junior’s newest recruit, former World Superbike Evo contender, Christian Iddon made his debut appearance on the Bimota in BSB this morning. The Stockport lad was racing for the Alstare team on the World stage, but the team were forced to pull out over homologation rules.
It appeared that the start of the session was blighted by technical issues, as the Brit only completed a few laps in FP1. But soon made it back out on track and ended the session 13th on the sheets.
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