Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne stormed to the top of the MCE British Superbike free practice timesheets at Thruxton this afternoon, and set a new outright lap record in the process with an impressive 1’14.340.
He went 0.02 seconds quicker than the previous track outright lap that has been held since 2010 by Tommy Hill, and Byrne has thrown down the gauntlet to his other title challengers with his fast pace at the Hampshire track.
Byrne is the current championship leader and looks like the rider to beat, and even the multiple champion is happy with his lap times today and has hailed it the best start to a race weekend that he has had all year.
“After Snetterton we were quick in the last fast section so I had a good idea the bike would work well here but I never like to assume it will. I’ve had a couple of tough years at this track but it hasn’t altered my love for the track,” said Byrne.
“We’ve been working a lot on making sure we’ve got a good rhythm and it seems to be OK and it was only the last two laps of that session that I stuck in a new tyre and thought ‘let’s have it’ and rode for the lap time. It’s probably been the best start to a weekend we’ve had this year”
