Swan Yamaha's Michael Laverty has set the quickest time in the first British Superbike free practice session at a wet Croft going three-tenths faster than the MSS Kawasaki of Stuart Easton while John Hopkins was beaten to third place by Tyco Honda's Peter Hickman.
Laverty and Easton jousted for top spot for most of the 50-minute period. The Irishman ended with a 1'21.442 lap compared to Ratboy's 1'21.756 while Hickman's final effort was only one one-thousandth slower, pushing Hopkins' Samsung Suzuki into fourth but the American is only three-tenths in arrears at a track he has only seen once before.
The second MSS Kawasaki of Gary Mason was busted down to fifth by those two laps but the Lichfield man, who isn't a huge fan of the rain, is only another 0.040 slower than Hopkins and four-tenths cover the top five with rainman Michael Rutter in sixth and only a gnat's slower again.
HM Plant Honda's Shane Byrne is seventh after being as high as fourth at half-time with his 1'22.048 while the crocked Tommy Hill, who must be doing a weekend-long rain dance, is eighth even with his badly-injured left shoulder. The Swan Yamaha man passed a fitness test at 10am.
Frenchman Loris Baz has to settle for ninth place, just in front of Josh Brookes who rounds out the top ten on his Relentless Suzuki, a little under a second off the pace.
PR Kawasaki's Simon Andrews leads the way in Evo with a 1'22.963 which was good enough for 13th overall while Alex Lowes and Glen Richards, both on WFR Hondas, are directly behind him.
