Tyco Suzuki's Alastair Seeley has topped the first British Superbike free practice timesheet at Snetterton this morning but is being chased hard by fellow Irishman and former points table leader Ian Lowry on the Padgett's Honda.
Seeley was the only rider to go underneath the 1'50s barrier with a 1'49.819 with Lowry a little under two-tenths behind but the pair are still around two seconds off Shane Byrne's lap record set last year using FIM-spec engines.
Byrne himself put his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki in third place and is 0.009s behind ex-chef Lowry while Graham Gowland is in fourth on a 1'50.124 and was the only of the WFR Honda men to remain upright as team-mates Alex Lowes and James Westmoreland both crashed unhurt.
Despite his off, Lowes clocked the fifth fastest time ahead of Michael Laverty's Samsung Honda. The Toomebridge man is three-quarters of a second off the pace at a circuit he dominated in pre-season testing and only a fraction ahead of Luca Scassa on the second Padgett's bike.
Patric Muff put his Supersonic BMW in eighth with reigning BSB champion Tommy Hill ninth and Oulton Park race winner Chris Walker rounding out the top ten. Josh Brookes is 11th, Barry Burrell 12th, Tristan Palmer 13th, Noriyuki Haga 14th and Luke Quigley completes the top 15.
