Supersonic BMW's Tommy Bridewell has admitted he was surprised by his pace in the opening British Superbike free practice sessions as he wasn't comfortable on the S1000RR but tempered that buy saying he feels there is a second a lap to come out of the bike.

The Devizes swearbox ended the second 45-minute period in 12th place but only 1.4s off the laptime of leader Michael Laverty and ahead of Michael Rutter, Stuart Easton and Noriyuki Haga.

"I was surprised with the laptime, if the truth be told. I wasn't feeling very comfortable with the setup but I think there is easily a second in the bike if we make some good adjustments tomorrow," said the strawberry blonde rider, speaking to bikesportnews.com this afternoon.

"We have had good pace all year and it is a lot to do with the relaxed attitude of the team. I have adjusted the way I approach things this year and not trying to win the race in the first practice session. The results are coming and I think that, although I have to beat some very good riders, I can get a podium for the team this year.

"I'm not putting any pressure on myself and working on a season performance instead of listening to wrong things. The team are putting together as really good bike for me, so I want to reward them with good points every round, not a rostrum-or-hospital attitude."