Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey continued his run of good form during the opening MCE British Superbike free practice session at Knockhill as he finished top ahead of JG Speedfit Kawasaki's Leon Haslam and Tyco BMW rider Michael Laverty.
Mossey took a hold early in the session but was soon challenged by the likes of Haslam and Laverty, with the latter the first rider making it into the 48-second bracket and it stayed that way for quite some time.
Laverty held firm at the top of the timesheets, despite some good work from the aforementioned riders as Mossey made his way back into second and Haslam made it a trio of riders in the 48-second range.
Buildbase BMW's Richard Cooper posted a fine effort halfway through to make his way into fourth, with Ryiuchi Kiyonari - returning from injury - also performing creditably on the Bennetts Suzuki as he took seventh soon after.
With the pace hotting up, it was Be Wiser Ducati Shane Byrne's turn to make his move as the four-time champion put the Panigale third, also making his way into the 48-second mark as the top 18 riders saw their times only separated by less than a second.
A number of riders returned to the pits for final tweaks, with Haslam, Mossey and Byrne among them and once Michael Laverty had improved his top time to a 48.791 he too made his way into pit-lane with ten minutes remaining.
As the riders re-emerged, Haslam was first to strike a blow on his Kawasaki as he charged top although that didn't last long as Mossey came flying round next time to get his weekend off to a fine start and top the timesheets by just 0.2seconds, bumping Laverty down to third.
Two fine efforts late on from Honda duo Jason O'Halloran and Dan Linfoot saw those two come next, followed by EpayMe Yamaha's John Hopkins, with Byrne, Tyco BMW's Christian Iddon, JG Speedfit Kawasaki's James Ellison and Bennetts Suzuki's Tommy Bridewell completing the top ten in Scotland.
