Source: BSB.

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne fired the opening shots in the War for Four MCE Insurance British Superbikes titles against Ryuichi Kiyonari by setting the pace in free practice ahead of this weekend’s triple-header finale at Brands Hatch.

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Byrne goes into the first race on Saturday afternoon with a 12-point advantage over Kiyonari. The Kent racer edged out his Japanese rival by half a second in the dry afternoon free practice session.

Byrne said: “We have three races to win to take the title and a place in history as the first rider to win four titles. There is one part of me says go out and enjoy them, the other says just stay ahead of Kiyonari in all of them. He is fast and a great competitor to ride against, but I don’t concentrate my mind on any other rider, the only person that I have to beat is myself.”

Kiyonari, riding the Buildbase BMW, had shown all-round riding skills, running fourth fastest in the damp of the morning. Howie Mainwaring on the Quattro Plant Kawasaki set the pace in the opening session.

Kiyonari said: “The morning wasn’t so good with the conditions and maybe I tried too hard in the afternoon and that is why we didn’t improve with every lap, I was pushing too hard and making mistakes but then I relaxed and we improved our lap time again.

“The feeling was better with the bike than before so we have our best setting and we will keep pushing. I was a bit angry and disappointed because I want to be fastest, but everyone is so close in the top ten. I love this track and I have confidence for the first race.”

Byrne and Kiyonari were split at the top of the free practice leaderboard by James Ellison riding the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki and Aussie Josh Brookes on the Milwaukee Yamaha, who needs strong results to maintain his third place in the title stakes ahead of his teammate Tommy Bridewell.

Next best of the Aussies was Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) in 14th and 1.298s off the front time, with Bryan Staring (Team WD-40 Kawasaki) a further three-tenths back in 18th and Jed Metcher (PR Racing Kawasaki) 29th.

Graeme Gowland intensified the pressure on his Smiths Triumph teammate and title rival Billy McConnell in the second free practice session ahead of the final round of the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship.

Gowland upped the pace with a best lap of 1m28.678s, barely half a second off the lap record, to top the leader board, while McConnell was back in 11th place.

In Superstock 1000 Jason O’Halloran was second fastest, while in Superstock 600 Levi Day was leading Australian in fifth and Benjamin Currie eighth.

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