Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was the quickest rider out on the Lincolnshire circuit in this morning’s opening MCE British Superbike free practice session. In wet conditions the triple champ toppled Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes off the top of the timesheets with two minutes remaining with a 1’36.080.

Aussie Brookes was the fastest rider for the majority of the session and was the one to beat after fifteen minutes, with his initial time of 1’37.003. He was able to go half a second quicker but was pipped to the post by Kiyo and had to settle for second on the timesheets with a 1'36.570.

Kiyo’s younger team-mate Alex Lowes was hovering in the top ten fastest times for most of the morning, but on his last lap as the chequered flag appeared he leaped from eighth to third quickest with a 1’36.672 lap.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Waters had an impressive session, as the Mildura native finished the first free practice session fourth quickest, out pacing his more experienced team-mate James Ellison by nearly two seconds. The Cumbrian rider ended the session ninth fastest.

It was the battle of the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki team-mates as to who could make it into the top five times, but Byrne was two tenths of a second quicker than Keith Farmer to round off the top five with a 1’37.449.

Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland was only one hundredths of a second off the time set by Farmer with his best lap of 1’37.661, followed by Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen. Halsall Racing’s Tommy Bridewell rounded off the top ten quickest laps with a 1’38.671.