Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari put in a dominant performance in the final MCE British Superbike free practice session at Knockhill this morning. No other rider, not even Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne could find the pace to match that of the triple champ.
In the end Kiyo’s best time of 48.152 cemented his spot at the top of the timesheets, with Byrne four tenths off the pace of the BMW rider. Byrne did lead the second free practice outing yesterday, but Kiyo was too strong and now sits in the provisional pole position after pulverising the lap record by three tenths of a second.
GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker rounded up the top three with a 48.573. At the beginning of the session Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell was matching the pace of his team-mate, Josh Brookes but after only a minute out on track the orange and black flags came out as smoke was seen coming out of his Yamaha, and after clocking the fourth quickest time retired to the pits, with nearly 40 minutes remaining.
Elsewhere Kiyonari was ploughing on ahead at the front of the pack with a 48.501 but as soon as he completed his fifth rotation the red flags were out after 15 minutes as Tsingtao’s Harry Hartley crashed at Duffus Dip and was sent to the medical centre to be assessed.
After the stoppage the bikes were soon back out on track with Byrne closing the gap on Kiyo at the top of the timesheets. But the red flags were soon back out – this time for Bridewell who’s bike went bang, spilling oil on the track on the start and finish straight, and a length delay ensued.
The Devizes rider’s crew had fixed the initial smoke problem but as soon as he went back out he took a tumble at Duffus Dip, but luckily was declared OK at the trackside. With 25 minutes remaining the bikes came back out for a second time and Kiyo once again set the pace.
Meanwhile Bathams BMW Patric Muff was doing well, making his way into the top five, but he crashed while fourth fastest at Clark, ending his chance of his best finish in a free practice session this year. His team-mate Michael Rutter was having a solid session out on track and went into sixth on the timesheets with a handful of minutes remaining. But when the chequered flag came out the road racing legend slipped back to eighth.
GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker was loitering around the top ten – until there was only three minutes left and went into third with a 48.573, just in front of Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes and Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland, with the Hull rider rounded off the top five when the 45 minutes were up. Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins, Muff and GBmoto Kawasaki’s James Ellison completed the top ten.
