Sunday, October 14 2012

Shane 'Shakey' Byrne stormed ahead of title rival Josh Brookes in the warm up session at Brands Hatch this morning as the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider fended off the Tyco Suzuki rider in the closing stages ahead of today's final races.

Brookes had led for the majority of the session but in the final three minutes Byrne edged ahead and remained at the top of the times in the closing stages. WFR Honda's Alex Lowes bounced back from his crash yesterday to finish the session third fastest ahead of his team-mate James Westmoreland, who moved up the order in the final minute.

Westmoreland's improvement displaced defending champion Tommy Hill to fifth ahead of Samsung Honda's Michael Laverty in sixth. Stuart Easton returned to the top ten on the second of the Rapid Solicitors Kawasakis with Jakub Smrz, Mark Aitchison and Danny Buchan completing the top ten.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, warm up result:

1. Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:26.799s
2. Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.230s
3. Alex Lowes (WFR Honda) +0.309s
4. James Westmoreland (WFR Honda) +0.355s
5. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.613s
6. Michael Laverty (Samsung Honda) +0.766s
7. Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.773s
8. Jakub Smrz (Splitlath Redmond Aprilia) +0.839s
9. Mark Aitchison (Splitlath Redmond Aprilia) +0.921s
10. Danny Buchan (MSS Bathams Kawasaki) +1.015s

The 2012 MCE Insurance British Superbike champion will be crowned tomorrow at Brands Hatch this weekend (14 October). For more information click here

The second race starts at 13:00 today (Sunday).