Quattro Plant Kawasaki's Luke Mossey topped the opening MCE British Superbike free practice session at Snetterton with a 1'52.039, in damp conditions this morning.
The local lad was the first rider to reach the 1'52's and with five minutes left to the outing soared to P1 on the sheets, and even a last lap dash by Moto Rapido Ducati's Danny Buchan failed to dethrone Mossey.
The tall Essex lad lapped a 1'52.161, but was 0.1s off the best lap of the day so far. Buildbase BMW's Richard Cooper completed the top three but was unable to reach the 1'52's but left his fastest lap until last, with a 1'52.214.
It was a solid session for ePayMe Yamaha's Stuart Easton who was as high as third overall on the timings-screens only for Cooper to go quicker, with Honda Racing's Dan Linfoot finishing the session inside the top five.
There was an earlier rain shower this morning and the track was slowly drying out, but it was still very damp and the rider's were unfazed by the mixed conditions. Iddon, Irwin and O'Halloran finished P6, P7 and P8.
Fresh from the Suzuka test, Bennetts Suzuki's Ryuichi Kiyonari and ePayMe Yamaha's stand-in rider, Broc Parkes lapped a 1'54.345 and 1'54.443 respectively, and completed the top ten fastest times.
Title challenger's Be Wiser Ducati's Shane Byrne, JG Speedfit Kawasaki's James Ellison and Leon Haslam, alongside Michael Laverty only completed a handful of laps this morning, with Byrne the quickest of the rivals going eleventh fastest. Ellison ended FP1 in fourteenth followed by Haslam and the Tyco BMW of Laverty.