Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne catapulted his way to the top of the second MCE British Superbike free practice session, this afternoon. The reigning champ clocked his fastest time of 1’48.637 on his thirteenth lap, out-pacing Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes' time that he set in the opening practice session at Snetterton.
Byrne was the only rider to lap in the 1’48’s and was half a second quicker than Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes, who was the second fastest rider this afternoon with a 1’49.229, and improved nearly a second on his previous best lap from this morning.
Lowes was riding high at the top of the timesheets with his best lap of 1’49.359 for most of the session, but with only five minutes left to go Byrne charged to the top, followed by Brookes, which meant the Derby lad was pushed down to third, and even though he completed 20 laps of the track he could not break into the 1’48’s this afternoon. Only 0.1 seconds slower was his team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari, who jumped from the mid pack to fourth quickest, with Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland rounding off the top five.
Padgett’s rider Jakub Smrz had another consistent session and secured his place inside the top ten in the timesheets today. Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen was another rider who made an impact this afternoon. In the opening few minutes of the free practice the New Yorker was as high as third, with his best time of 1’49.595, but as the chequered flag appeared found himself seventh fastest.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison, Buildbase BMW’s Jon Kirkham and Bathams Honda’s Tommy Bridewell rounded off the top ten quickest times this afternoon.
The session was red flagged because Doodson Motorsport’s Robbin Harms had a technical issue and oil was out on the track. There was a short delay, and then the remaining thirteen minutes went ahead as planned. Bathams Honda rider Michael Rutter fell at Montreal with 30 minutes to go, putting a premature end to his practice session this afternoon.
Top five lap analysis - free practice two
Shane Byrne did seven laps in the 1'49s bracket with two close to 1'48s and two in the 1'48s themselves. Brookes did five laps in the low 1'49s after building his speed over the session. Alex Lowes managed two laps in the low 1'49s but then retreated back into the 1'50s while Kiyonari had seven 1'49s laps. Westmoreland had four laps in the 1'49s.
