NEWS

MALLORY BSB: HILL LEADS THE WAY IN FIRST PRACTICE

25/06/2010

Hill just edged out Michael Laverty in first practice this afternoon

By David Miller
Image by Paul Sturman

Worx Suzuki's Tommy Hill has topped the first British Superbike free practice timesheet at Mallory Park this afternoon but was chased hard by the Relentless Suzuki of Michael Laverty who only a tenth of a second off the pace.

Brother John, riding for the Buildbase Kawasaki squad, nabbed third place with his final lap which demoted the HM Plant Honda of Ryuichi Kiyonari to fourth and the Yukio Kagayama, on the second Worx Suzuki, to fifth.

Josh Brookes made the early running with team-mate Kiyonari in second and Hill in third but the Lingfield man took only a handful of laps to hit the front with a 56.778 lap while Kagayama nabbed third with a 57.832 as Tommy Bridewell's Quay Garage Honda nipped into second.

Hill then lapped faster again on a 56.534 which stood for the rest of the session while Laverty, Kiyonari, Kagayama and Michael Rutter, on the Riders Ducati, scrapped it out for the top five spots. Both the MSS Colchester Kawasaki of Gary Mason and Swan Honda's Stuart Easton stopped with technical problems in the session but managed to get back out again.

Rutter ended the session in sixth with Bridewell seventh and a late-lap by Brookes pulled him back into eighth. Easton finished ninth with Motorpoint Yamaha's Dan Linfoot rounding out the top ten. His team and former World Supersport Champion Andrew Pitt was 13th.

Returning riders Simon Andrews and James Ellison were 19th and 24th respectivelty, while Chris Burns' Splitlath Aprilia was the leading Evo Superbike.

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