McAMS Yamaha’s James Ellison set a new outright lap record at the Brands Hath Indy circuit during this morning’s opening MCE British Superbike free practice session.
The R1 rider put down an impressive 45.097 to pipped JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey on the timing screen. The ZX-10RR racer looked like he would take the spoils this morning, but Ellison had other ideas and went a tenth quicker.
Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne used the SC0 rear Pirelli tyre during the session, and was only 0.1 off lap record pace. Hot on his heels on the timesheets was his young team-mate Glenn Irwin who clocked a 45.514.
Bennetts Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli soared up the order - by twelve places to be exact - and gained some pace compared to yesterday’s test session. The former World Superbike champ set a 45.545.
Current series leader, Leon Haslam completed 37 laps and on his 10th on the SC1 he put in his fastest time of a 45.642. Hopkins, Smrz, O’Halloran, Dixon, Brookes completed the top 11 fastest times. Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot was P13, just behind James Westmoreland.
The red flags appeared with 16 minutes remaining as Tyco BMW’s Davide Giugliano crashed at Graham Hill Bend. The former World Superbike star was taken to the medical centre for further assessment. There was a break in proceedings as the air fencing had been moved and there was some oil down.
The red flag made a second appearance, with four minutes left to go as Tommy Bridewell crashed and there was a small fire on his ZX-10RR and FP1 was brought to a stand still, only to be restarted a few moment afterwards. Elsewhere youngster, Bradley Ray onboard the Buildbase Suzuki crashed unhurt at the Cooper Straight on the 25 minute mark.
