Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne was the only rider to lap inside the 1’26 bracket during the second MCE British Superbike free practice session at Cadwell Park. The triple champ did have to contend with Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari for all of the 45 minute outing, but in the end the racer lapped a 1’26.990 to cement his place at the top of the timesheets.

Byrne was only three tenths off the lap record set by Leon Haslam back in 2006, and proved that he will probably be the rider to beat in the double header on Bank Holiday Monday. Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot, GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes finished the day inside the top five.

At first it was Byrne who was the fastest rider out on track in the opening moments of the session – after a 1’27.749, only for Kiyonari to lap exactly the same time after ten minutes on the circuit.

But a lap later the Japanese rider went 0.2 seconds quicker than the Londoner and edged on ahead. Elsewhere down the field Brookes was holding firmly on to third with a 1’28.280, with RAF Reserves Honda’s Peter Hickman five tenths behind the Bringelly rider.

With 15 minutes remaining the red flags came out as Millsport Ducati’s Jakub Smrz crashed for the second time today, but this time it was at Hall Bend. He was declared OK at the track side, but once again made his way to the medical centre to be assessed further.

But soon the red flags disappeared and the session got underway once again, with Byrne the first out of the starting blocks, and he made an impact straight away as a 1’27. 242 was enough to topple Kiyo from the top of the sheets.

WD-40’s Barry Burrell was having a superb time out on track, and was equalling the pace of Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot and GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker to lap a 1’28.794 to go fifth, only for Linfoot to go one better with two minutes remaining.

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton soared into the top six, pushing Burrell down to seventh, after what has been a pretty uneventful day so far for the Scot. But a 1’28.753 was good enough to go into the top half of the table, with less that 60 seconds left to FP2. But in the end Hickman pipped the Hawick man to the post to pull his way into sixth.

When the flag appeared Linfoot and Walker pushed their respective Kawasaki’s into the top five, with Linfoot going third after a 1’28.103, with Walker one-eight hundredths of a second slower. With the pair going ahead it meant that Josh Brookes fell back to round up the top five.

Halsall Racing’s Jon Kirkham and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring completed the top ten. Crocked rider’s Buildbase BMW's James Westmoreland and GBmoto Kawasaki's James Ellison ended the afternoon in 11th and 16th respectively.

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