Byrne sets early pace at Cadwell Park | Brookes spectacular but chasing set-up on the Milwaukee Yamaha
Shane Byrne edged out his MCE Insurance British Superbike title rival Ryuichi Kiyonari in a high-speed duel for the top spot in free practice ahead of Bank Holiday Monday’s eighth round at Cadwell Park as the pair bid for a record-breaking fourth crown.
Japanese rider Kiyonari, who lives nearby to the Lincolnshire circuit had set the pace in the morning session, and despite putting in a sequence of fast laps in the afternoon session he was narrowly edged out by fierce rival Byrne.
Byrne hit back strongly, putting in a scorching lap of 1m 26.990s aboard his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki late in the second session to signal his intention to end a run of seven races without a win.
Byrne said: “We have been chipping away in the first session this morning and found more pace this afternoon but we still need to work hard. The team have some good ideas and fingers crossed we can have an even better day tomorrow.”
Milwaukee Yamaha’s Brookes was pushed back into fifth place by the late charges from both Dan Linfoot, continuing his recent run of form on the Quattro Plant Kawasaki, and Chris Walker on the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki.
Brookes said: “Today there has been something a bit different with the character of the bike and we don’t want to start making a load of changes as it might just need a few things checking over. We don’t want to do anything radical because we usually have a general setting and then just make some tweaks. We believe that we can look at it again in the morning as it is just out of character. In that respect we felt a bit far away today but hopefully tomorrow we can fix the problem.”
Stuart Easton on the second Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, Tommy Bridewell on the Milwaukee Yamaha and James Ellison, who is bravely making a racing return following an injury, are all pushing to secure the final places in the Showdown. Josh Waters was 12th quickest in the second practice session, three placed ahead of Tyco Suzuki teammate John Hopkins.
Superbike Free practice two:
- Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:26.990s
- Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.328s
- Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +1.113s
- Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +1.195s
- Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +1.208sPeter Hickman (RAF Reserves Honda) +1.404s
British Supersport
Billy McConnell underlined his determination to regain the lead in the Motorpoint British Supersport title stakes with a strong performance in free practice highlighted by a scorching lap in the closing moments of the second session under the existing lap record.
The Aussie charged his Smiths Triumph inside the two-year-old lap record with a time of 1m 29.021s to finally head off the challenge of the determined Luke Mossey who had been consistently fast throughout the day on the Techcare Profile Triumph.
Graeme Gowland, who leads his team-mate McConnell by a single point in the overall standings, worked hard across the two sessions, ending the day less than a third of a second down but it was a tough start for former champion Alastair Seeley.
Seeley arrives here four points down on Gowland, but the Martrain Yamaha could only clock sixth and then seventh fastest times in the two sessions, with his afternoon best two seconds down on McConnell.
Luke Stapleford, cruelly denied the chance of victory in the previous round by a machine problem while leading, will be back in the scrap at the sharp-end of the pack on the Profile Triumph, having set competitive times in free practice.
Tim Hastings, aboard the E-Lites Kawasaki was the fastest Supersport EVO class rider in both sessions, from Ben Field in the opener and then Alex Olsen.
Motorpoint British Supersport Championship, Cadwell Park, Free practice two:
- Billy McConnell (Smiths Triumph) 1m 29.021s
- Luke Mossey (Techcare Profile Triumph) +0.278
- Graeme Gowland (Smiths Triumph) +0.311s
- Luke Stapleford (Profile Triumph) +0.328s
- Luke Hedger (Gearlink Kawasaki) +1.640s
British Superstock 1000
Danny Buchan put the Tsingtao Kawasaki on provisional pole ahead of Jason O’Halloran. David Johnson was ninth quickest.
British Superstock 600
Kyle Rydetopped opening qualifying in the Superstock 600 category ahead of Joe Collier. Levi Day was seventh quickest and Benjmain Currie rounded out the top ten.
