Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was bang on form during this morning’s opening MCE British Superbike free practice session and at the flag was already 0.4 seconds off lap record pace at Silverstone.

King Kiyo appeared well and truly backed at this historic circuit and a 2’06.628 was enough to cement his place at the top of the timesheets. His dominant performance put many of the riders in the shade, and only Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins and Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne could come close to matching the Japanese rider’s pace.

When the chequered flag appeared it was Hopkins who bagged second on the timing-screens going one-two hundredth of a second quicker than Byrne, with the triple champion clinging on to third after the 45 minute outing – with a 2’07.434 rotation.

Kiyonari was so consistent with his super fast laps, that he managed eight laps inside the 2’07’s, compared to only six from his main rival, Byrne. Hopkins could only muster a total of three laps in the two minute seven second bracket, but all he needed was one fast lap to go second on the sheets.

At first it was Byrne who came storming out of the pits and straight away set a 2’07.457 to top the timesheets, with Kiyonari, Linfoot and Hopkins narrowly close by and just off the pace of the triple champ. With 20 minutes left to the opening FP outing Brookes was steadily making his way up the sheets, with Westmoreland two tenths behind the Aussie in sixth overall.

But while all that was going on Kiyonari was pounding on ahead and bettered the pace set by Byrne, and had a 0.2 second advantage over the Lambeth born rider to top the sheets for the first time this race weekend.

But with only three minutes of track time left  to the riders Byrne decided to make his mark – and that’s just what he did, lapping a 2’07.434. But that was only to last mere seconds as Kiyo went an impressive 0.8s quicker and was the first racer to reach the 2’06’s.

Hopkins was also on pace and went 0.02 seconds faster than Byrne at the flag, with Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot and fellow title challenger Josh Brookes completing the top five.

Showdown rider, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell couldn’t manage a time inside the top five, and had to settle for eighth fastest, just behind RAF Reserves Honda’s Peter Hickman and Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Waters.

GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker was another Showdown contender who failed to make it inside the top three, and the veteran racer managed 16th on the sheets but is still in some pain after a crash during the last round at Assen. Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland and Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton completed the top ten.

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