Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne rode a faultless session in the first MCE British Superbike free practice outing at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit – and was able to hold off a charge from Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes.

Both riders were able to improve their lap times throughout the session and were the only racers to lap under the 45 second barrier, with Byrne clocking a time that was only one tenth of a second off the lap record with a 45.576, with Brookes only two tenths a second off the pace of the triple champ with his best time of 45.701.

It was a case of déjà vu in the opening moments of FP1 - as in a repeat of yesterday's testing session it was Brookes who was the first out of the blocks and setting the pace for the rest of the riders, but Byrne once again clocked a 45.915 to go quickest.

Smrz was again cementing his place in the top three times – lapping consistently in the 46.1’s after 25 minutes, with the Buildbase BMW duo of Ryuichi Kiyonari and James Westmoreland never too far off the pace of the former World Superbike contender.

With fifteen minutes remaining Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell  jumped up from just outside the top ten to muscle his way in-between the two BMW’s to go fifth quickest after a 46.351. But in the end dropped outside the top ten to eleventh quickest.

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton left it till the dying minutes of FP1 to make an impact in the top five, pushing Kiyo down to fifth after clocking a 46.218 after 36 minutes. But the Japanese rider was not going to let the Scot get ahead of him and when the chequered flag came out went back to third with a 46.073, with GBmoto’s Kawasaki’s Chris Walker and Quattro Plant’s Dan Linfoot completing the top five.

Smrz fell down the standings after initially having a solid start and finished sixth fastest with a 46.162, followed by Easton. GBmoto Kawasaki’s James Ellison suffered a technical issue and only managed to complete three laps and caused a red flag as his bike had to be recovered from the side of the circuit. But his team were able to fix the fault as he ended the morning eighth fastest, with Westmoreland and Ridersmotorcycle’s Martin Jessopp rounding off the top ten.

But that was not the only red flag to appear in the session – Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s James Hiller, standing in for the crocked Howie Mainwaring crashed at Paddock Hill but was declared OK at the track side.