Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne ended the only MCE British Superbike test at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit the quickest rider out on track after a 45.785, but Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes was never too far off the pace and throughout the hour session the top of the timing screens changed between the pair, with Brookes ending the afternoon two tenths of a second slower with a 45.910 lap.
In the opening moments it was Brookes who stamped his authority on the rest of the pack by firstly clocking a 46.745 – with Byrne hot on his heels. But 49 minutes in to the hour testing session Byrne went three tenths of a second faster, but it was his team-mate Stuart Easton who was also never far off the pace of the triple champion and was the quickest rider out there on the Indy track with over 40 minutes of track time to go.
"Generally speaking when I get on the bike I go out and enjoy it and go faster, but for some reason today it just didn?t click. We had things to try and we achieved that, but that said I am happy enough but there is still plenty of room for improvement," Byrne.
But Brookes put in a 46.236 to regain his lead as the king of the timing screens. Tyco Suzuki's John Hopkins kept improving on his time to go third - three quarters of the way through the session with a 46.345, demoting Byrne to fourth fastest. But Byrne was not going to let the other riders get the better of him – and after spending time in the pits came out and clocked a 45.785 to go top of the testing timesheets.
GBmoto’s Chris Walker obviously felt comfortable on board his Kawasaki as he pushed Byrne further down the standings as he climbed to fourth quickest but then jumped up to second with a 46.159. But Walker was not the only rider to improve in the final ten minutes – Easton, again went top of the timing screens after a 46.018.
But when the chequered flag appeared Easton got the better of the veteran rider and ended the day on a 46.046, with Walker one-five hundredths of a second slower. Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari rounded off the top five.
Hopkins did reach the dizzy heights of third, but slipped back down to sixth, followed by RAF Reserves Honda Simon Andrews, and Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland. Millsport Ducati’s Jakub Smrz and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot completed the top ten.
