John Hopkins leads opening day at Assen BSB
John Hopkins might be out of contention for the MCE Insurance British Superbike crown but the American former MotoGP rider is fired up to challenge for victories in the opening round of the Showdown at Assen.
Tyco Suzuki’s Hopkins waited until the final minutes of the second session to knock Ryuichi Kiyonari from the top of the times by just 0.193s. Championship leader Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was closing him down in the closing stages as he held third place on the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki as he continues the ‘War for Four’ title battle with Kiyonari.
Kiyonari, the double race winner last time out holds third place in the standings, and he said: “I’ve now got to push hard at every round and at every race to try and win the title. Today I was not fast, enough, but I am happy as the other riders had tested here after Cadwell Park. I think we can improve again tomorrow.”
Byrne said: “It has been pretty good for us today, because we had the test here and we had a couple of ideas for direction with the setting. We have gone in two different directions in the two sessions today. We have a good idea of what we need to do, because we have a structured plan for the sessions based on what we learnt at the test. If we follow that and keep moving forward then we will be in a good position to attack for those wins in the two races in Sunday.”
Chris Walker, four times the runner-up in the championship, set the fourth fastest time on the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki, to be just ahead of fellow title contender Dan Linfoot riding the Quattro Plant Kawasaki.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s two title-chasing riders Tommy Bridewell and Josh Brookes had a tough opening day on circuit as they pushed to close in on their rivals. Bridewell held seventh and Brookes was ninth after the opening two sessions, something they need to change tomorrow in qualifying as they bid for a debut title.
Brookes said: “It has been disappointing today and to be honest we have been a little bit surprised. At the test, apart from the lap Shakey did at the end of the day, we had a set-up that was able to do the consistently fastest times so we thought we would be in a good position. Coming back now the track conditions must be slightly different as we have come back with exactly the same motorbike and can’t match the times we did before.
“Looking at the positives, the bike is quite different from how I would normally ride it because to get the bike to go quickly at the test we had to change it to what I would usually use. At the test though it went fast so that’s what it needed. It now seems like it wants to be put back to how it normally is compared to what we had at the test. We are now looking at tomorrow, so we might go with what we think might be more practical and see where we go from there.”
British Supersport
Graeme Gowland is ready to battle with his Smiths Triumph team-mate Billy McConnell for the lead in the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship after strong performances in both free practice sessions.
Gowland ran second fastest to title outside Alastair Seeley, aboard the MarTrain Yamaha, though by only 0.084secs in the morning session but he upped the tempo next time out with a scorching in the closing minutes to go 0.615secs faster than the rest.
McConnell, who takes a single point lead into the races over Gowland, ran seventh fastest in the first session, three quarters of a second down on his team-mate, and the Aussie fared little better in the faster afternoon session, though he was third fastest overall.
Luke Stapleford, third fastest in the morning, managed only a single lap in the afternoon, while Glenn Irwin, riding the Gearlink Kawasaki, put in a series of consistent laps across the day to be in the top five, though needing to find further improvements.
Seeley was again well on the pace in the afternoon session, setting the fifth best time, but then spoiling his hard work with a crash late on.
James Rispoli also crashed his Traction Control Yamaha out of the second session with newly crowned Supersport EVO champion Alex Olsen also tumbling.
