Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes topped the opening MCE British Superbike free practice timesheets, edging ahead of Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan on the timing-screens by 0.095 seconds at Cadwell Park.
The Bringelly rider dominated FP1 but young gun, Buchan fought back and lapped a 1’27.717 that placed him at the top of the sheets, with a handful of minutes remaining. But Brookes then went one better with a 1’27.622.
RAF Reserves BMW’s Peter Hickman was another rider to lap inside the 1’27 bracket and a 1’27.930 was fast enough to place him P3 at the flag, demoting Tyco BMW’s Tommy Bridewell to fourth overall.
His fellow Tyco team-mate, Michael Laverty was only 0.03s off the 1’28.055 set by the Devizes Swearbox and rounded off the top five, followed by McConnell, Mossey, Iddon and Hopkins.
Reigning champion, PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne completed the top ten and was unable to improve on his best 1’28.491 rotation. Buildbase BMW’s newest recruit, Richard Cooper was two tenths off the lap time set by Byrne and finished 11th quickest on the time-sheets.
