Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari has to aim to lap inside the 1’29’s during tomorrow’s MCE British Superbike final free practice session - that’s according to his crew chief Steve Hicken. The triple-champ topped the FP timesheets not once, but twice today and even kept his lead at the head of the timing screens even after a small crash in the last session of the day.
The triple champ’s best time of a 1’30.106 was only half a tenth off lap record pace and he was even able to hold off the charges of rivals, PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes. The Buildbase crew did not have much work to do on the BMW after the second free practice crash that Kiyo had at Coppice, and all they needed to change were the tyres.
But tomorrow is a new day, and the team are not going to make any major changes for the final FP session, and are confident that the Japanese rider should make an impact in qualifying on Sunday afternoon.
“We are at a pretty good point with the bike and we put in a lot of hard graft over the winter, and that is what it comes down to – to put us where we are now. The S1000 is the best bike on the market and we have made some improvements to it and have the best rider in the championship at the moment, and also look at how Lee Jackson has done today, especially being a rookie,” said Hicken, speaking to bikesportnews.com.
“Kiyo only fell over in the gravel and all we did was change the tyres. FP3 if it is dry we have to push into the 1’29’s, and we will start with the same set up. The thing is with Kiyo is that he missed the testing so we are trying to get as many laps in as possible, so we will keep pushing and upping the pace ready for Monday.”
