Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes cemented his place firmly at the top of the MCE British Superbike combined free practice timesheets after going under lap record pace by two tenths of a second in a drying second free practice at Assen.
The Australian was more than half a second quicker than Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey, and Brookes bettered his FP1 time by just over one second at the Dutch circuit too.
A 1’37.072 was the fastest time set by the R1 rider, with Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon putting in another strong session, and vastly improved from his opening free practice time to lap a 1’37.885. The Stockport lad was P2 before Mossey went one tenth quicker to edge Iddon down to third on the timesheets just as the chequered flag appeared.
But the top three were the only riders to lap inside the 1’37s this afternoon. Meanwhile, Milwaukee Yamaha’s substitute rider for this round, former World Superbike racer, Jakub Smrz is still getting used to riding the R1, but improved from his FP1 performance and finished FP2 in fourth. Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy completed the top five, in which was another solid performance by the Dubliner today.
Current champ and Showdown racer, PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne did set the pace but was soon overrun by Brookes and Co and slipped down to sixth fastest, but he was able to improve his lap time slightly with a 1’38.054.
Fellow Showdown riders, Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty and JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison ended the outing in seventh and eighth respectively. Laverty’s team-mate, Tommy Bridewell who is also a title fighter couldn’t come close to Laverty’s times and had to settle for 22nd, with Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot in seventeeth on the sheets.
PBM Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton is still recovering from injuries sustained from crashes at Brands and Oulton Park but managed to get onboard his ZX-10R to put down five laps this afternoon. The wee Scot ended the session 25th on the FP2 timesheets.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring crashed at Geert Timmer chicane and was taken to the medical centre for further assessment. Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins had the orange and black flags out at side of the track towards the end of the season and retreated swiftly to the pits. The American finished FP2 in P18.
Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari will not take part in this race weekend’s activity at the Dutch track as he is at home recovering from a flat-track crash.
One rider who was not part of proceedings was James Westmoreland. After FP1 he parted company with his JG Speedfit Kawasaki team, after having crashed twice in the space of twenty minutes in the opening session.
