Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne was the fastest rider during the MCE British Superbike test session at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, and was only 0.1 seconds off lap record pace.
The Panigale lapped a 45.315, and Byrne proved that he was back to full fitness after missing the opening round of the series due to concussion after a warm up crash at Donington Park.
Byrne was the only racer to lap inside the 45.3’s but another rider who was up the sharp end was the Tyco BMW of Christian Iddon. The Stockport native completed a total of 52 laps, and put down a 45.452. Meanwhile his team-mate Davide Giugliano completed more laps than any other rider - a total of 53, but went 17th on the sheets.
“I feel honestly incredibly grateful for the extra session we have had today because we are a little bit behind after what happened at the last round and we were even a bit before going into Donington too. To miss out on the two races was really big, so to have the time today has been beneficial.
"We have worked through some new parts and as a team we have worked hard to try and chip away and get a good feeling with the Be Wiser Ducati for this track.
“The top 20 were incredibly close today but the season starts this weekend for me at Brands Hatch after missing the races at Donington Park," said Byrne.
Both JG Speedfit Kawasaki bikes improved throughout the session, with Luke Mossey just pipping his garage partner, Leon Haslam to the post by one tenth of a second with the pair lapping 45.568 and 45.615 respectively.
At first Haslam was shown the black and orange flags when he first went out on track, and the issue stemmed from a sponsor’s sticker. Blue smoke was coming from the bike as the sticker was too close to the exhaust and it was starting to melt. But after a quick trip to the garage Haslam went back out.
McAMS Yamaha’s James Ellison was inside the top five times, but was unable to beat his own lap record at the Indy circuit, as the temperatures dropped towards the end of the session.
There were improvements for Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot who both went P6 and P9, with Bridewell completing the top ten. Former BSB champ, Josh Brookes was eleventh quickest on his R1. The 2015 champion spent most of the session riding on the SC1 rear Pirelli tyres.
Bennetts Suzuki’s Taylor Mackenzie’s crashed at the Cooper Straight, but his GSX-R 1000 was able to be retrieved and the youngster was able to complete the test session. Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin and Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins also ended the test outing inside the top ten fastest times.
