Rapid Solictors Kawasaki's Shane Byrne has topped the surprisingly dry first British Superbike free practice session which saw the first ten men on the timesheet covered by only a second.
New drainage systems at the Scottish track saw the tarmac dry very quickly after this morning's wet Supersport outing and Byrne took full advantage, setting a 49.510 to lead reigning champion Tommy Hill a little under two-tenths of a second when the chequered flag came out.
The session was stopped halfway through when James Westmoreland and Chris Walker crashed in quick succession with the latter taken to the medical centre with suspected leg injuries but no further information is currently available.
At the restart, Byrne upped his pace from a 49.825 to a 49.818 with Hill in close attendance and Samsung Honda's Michael Laverty in third spot, lapping at 50.119. Laverty was deposed by the Tyco Suzuki of Josh Brookes with 15 minutes to go and then Byrne set the quickest time of the period and it wasn't bettered.
Hill's second looked under threat from both Laverty and Brookes when the Australian hopped up to second with a 49.913 which was just 0.003s faster than Hill's best but the Surrey man was back into second as the minutes ticked away, going round in 49.689 to bag runner-up spot.
Laverty's final flying lap was enough to get the better of Brookes and then Tristan Palmer put the GBmoto Honda into fifth on a 50.018 which was a little under six-tenths off the pace. Alastair Seeley, on the second Tyco bike, was sixth with Luca Scassa seventh.
Alex Lowes had been running in the top three early on but slid back to eighth. Tommy Bridewell put in a late run on the Supersonic BMW to claim ninth while Padgett's Honda man Ian Lowry also found some pace as the session closed, bagging tenth place.
Michael Rutter put his MSS Bathams Kawasaki in 11th ahead of Noriyuki Haga in 12th. Barry Burrell's very early laptime was enough to secure 13th place with John Laverty and Luke Quigley rounding out the top 15.
