JG Speedfit Kawasaki's Leon Haslam was the very first rider out on track during the final MCE British Superbike free practice session at Brands Hatch and he also set the fastest time of the race weekend so far - a 1'25.509.
The ZX-10R racer went one tenth under lap record pace at the GP circuit in Kent and appeared unfazed by the cold circuit conditions this morning. His title rival, Be Wiser Ducati's Shane Byrne left it very late to make it out on the tarmac onboard the Panigale, and used the final timed session to test the harder rear Pirelli tyre.
Byrne put down a 1'25.970 that placed him sixth fastest overall. Tyco BMW's Christian Iddon was 0.1s shy of the quickest time of Haslam, with Showdown rider, Honda Racing's Jason O'Halloran making it into the top three for the first time this weekend.
The Australian was slightly off the pace yesterday, but whatever changes his team did to his Fireblade it worked and a 1'25.832 was more than good enough to go P3.
Bennetts Suzuki's Tommy Bridewell had a resurgence in form and was only 0.02 seconds slower than the Honda, with Buildbase BMW's Richard Cooper bouncing back from his technical issues on Friday to end the morning fifth quickest.
JG Speedfit Kawasaki's James Ellison just missed out on a sub 1'25 lap after a 1'26.006, with FS-3 Racing's Billy McConnell, Quattro Plant Kawasaki's Luke Mossey and Honda Racing's Dan Linfoot all ending FP3 inside the top ten on the sheets.
