PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne threw down the gauntlet to his MCE British Superbike rivals as he once again set the quickest time in the free practice sessions at the Snetterton 300 track, and again went under lap record pace by 0.2 seconds.
But Byrne had to contend with Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes and current championship leader, James Ellison who were never off the pace. On his final hot lap Byrne pipped Brookes again to the post by two tenths of a second with a 1’47.664.
The Bringelly rider lapped a respectable 1’47.798 but was one second off his out-right lap record at the circuit. Ellison was 0.2 seconds short of lapping inside the 1’47’s, but was quicker than his former team-mate Chris Walker.
The housewives favourite made it well inside the top four times after a quick 1’48.322. The Be Wiser rider was not the only one to have a solid session out on track, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Broc Parkes, made the most of his new fuel tank to complete the top five, followed by Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring.
Initially in the second session it was Smrz who cemented his place at the top of the timing-screens only to be demoted to third after Brookes and Ellison went 0.4 seconds quicker.
But it was not the start that Kiyonari wanted as he was blighted by a technical issue and came to a stop at Riches, and missed the majority of FP2. But his Buildbase crew worked hard to get his S1000RR back out on the 300 track again, and even though he improved on his best time from the earlier session by nearly one second he finished outside the top fastest times in eleventh with a 1’48.880.
But in a repeat of FP1 Byrne was once again up the sharp end and edged ahead of Brookes and Ellison with the fastest time of the weekend so far - a 1’47.664, going 0.01 seconds quicker than his best time from the first free practice session .
At the flag Smrz slipped back to seventh, followed by Easton and O’Halloran, with Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon rounding up the top ten. There were some who succumbed to the Norfolk circuit, including Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy, who crashed unhurt at Murrays.
