Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill marmalised the British Superbike field to bag top spot in this afternoon second practice session at Oulton Park, going seven tenths of a second faster than team-mate Michael Laverty and third-placed rider Josh Brookes on the Relentless Suzuki.
Hill's 1'35.682 is just two-tenths slower than Ryuichi Kiyonari's five-year-old lap record of 1'35.436, set on special Michelins in 2006 and will take some catching in tomorrow's sessions given that it was set on a tyre that had already done ten laps.
Brookes went out on a fresh tyre with a handful of minutes left on the clock and demoted Laverty to third with his 1'36.604 before the Irishman was right back in the scrap, making second his own with a 1'36.382 as the chequered flag came out.
Motorpoint Yamaha's Loris Baz also found pace on his final run, taking fourth quickest on a 1'36.663 and is less than a second off Hill's time. Both the MSS Colchester Kawasaki's were in the top three for a majority of the session, with Stuart Easton leading until the half-way point.
The Scotsman finished in fifth place with Gary Mason one place, and two-tenths of a second, behind. Jon Kirkham is seventh on a 1'37.046 with Kiyonari, who suffered a technical problem, eighth and team-mate Shane Byrne ninth. Tyco Honda's Peter Hickman rounds out the top ten.
WFR Honda's Alex Lowes was the fastest Evo rider finishing 15th overall with the crashing-but-ok Simon Andrews second (17th) and veteran Aussie Glen Richards third (18th). Jenny Tinmouth and Tommy Bridewell also crashed unhurt.
