Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison was the quickest rider in the final MCE British Superbike free practice session at Silverstone, with the fastest time of the weekend so far, a 2’06.389. The Cumbrian lad did experience a technical problem on his last lap and came to an abrupt stop at the International Pit Straight, but the rider had already done enough to secure provisional pole position.
Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne did cause a red flag after he high-sided at Luffield while he was leading the charge, with seventeen minutes remaining. The championship leader did manage to gingerly walk away from the incident by was sent to the medical centre for further checks, and even though he was topping the timesheets before he fell into the gravel he slipped down to second, after a 2’06.428 lap.
Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen steadily made his way up the timing screens, from the top five to the third quickest time with two minutes of the session remaining, but in the final seconds Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes displaced the diminutive American and went four one-hundredths of a second quicker, to take third.
But Jacobsen did out pace team-mate Josh Brookes. The Aussie rider could not catch up with the New Yorker and was over half a second off the time set by Jacobsen. Brookes completed the session in fifth with his best lap of 2’07.596.
Rapido Sport Racing’s Matteo Baiocco had a consistently quick session and was hovering around the top five fastest times for the majority of the 45 minutes. He ended the morning in sixth, two tenths of a second quicker than title challenger, Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland. GBmoto’s Dan Linfoot, Bathams rider Michael Rutter and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell rounded off the top ten.
There was a red flag after ten minutes, when Motodex Spearmint Rhino’s Stefan Cappella experienced a technical problem at Village and caused the session to stop, after oil spilled on to the track. The team have progressed from the Pirelli National Superstock class to BSB for the last two rounds of the season.
