Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki's Shane Byrne has topped the final MCE British Superbike free practice session at Brands Hatch this morning and leads the pack into qualifying at lunchtime.
Byrne lapped at 1'26.096, which is closing in on Josh Brookes' lap record, and is a little over half a second ahead of BSB veteran Karl Harris, who could very well prove a fly in the title fighters' ointment if he continues in this form this afternoon.
Tyco Suzuki's Josh Brookes is in third place and only 0.030s behind Harris's Quattro Kawasaki while championship dark horse Alex Lowes parked his WFR Honda in fourth place a tenth of a second behind the Australian.
Michael Laverty has kept his pace overnight and lapped in 1'26.811 to keep fifth place while James Westmoreland, on the second WFR Fireblade, is in sixth place. Chris Walker is in seventh with reigning champion Tommy Hill in eighth. Peter Hickman and Barry Burrell, on a brace of Buildbase BMWs, round out the top ten.
Despite undergoing a skin graft operation last night, Tommy Bridewell managed to put his Supersonic BMW in 19th place, just ahead of BSB new-boy Jason O'Halloran who has replaced Ian Lowry in the Padgett's Honda squad.
