Milwaukee Yamaha’s Broc Parkes made his circuit debut during the MCE British Superbike free practice sessions today at Knockhill, and the Australian found the Scottish track to be a lot tougher than he anticipated.
But he was able to get to grips with the circuit to improve on his lap times. In FP2 Parkes and his crew used one tyre for the entire outing and he was able to get some consistent times under his belt.
His Milwaukee team will make further changes to his R1 tonight, but the former MotoGP racer is feeling more confident going into the final free practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow, and his aim is to knock another half a second off his best time, of a 49.472.
“Today has been a bit of an eye-opener, everyone that comes here for the first time though has the same feeling I think. To do a lap I thought would be difficult but not as tough as it was to begin with, but I am not that far away,” said Parkes.
“In the second session we used one tyre for the whole session and my times are consistent, but I think to make the next step we need to make a few more tweaks and then try a new tyre to make some laps and that will make a big difference.
“In general I think tomorrow I am confident we can close again as every time I was on the bike I was nearly a second of a lap faster, so I need to find another half a second and then make the next step.”
