Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill defied the odds at Croft’s British Superbike round on Friday to not only bounce back from his injury, but on his return set the fastest time in the second free practice session after toppling Ducati’s Michael Rutter in the final minute.
Michael Laverty set the pace once again in the opening stages of the session onboard the Swan Yamaha, ahead of Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and John Hopkins in the opening 10 minutes.
Rutter then had a spell at the top of the times with ten minutes still to go, ahead of Laverty and Stuart Easton who had been running second on the MSS Colchester Kawasaki.
Hill though showed typical determination to work his way up the order, running seventh with 20 minutes remaining, to move third in the final minutes but still on circuit as he tried to get comfortable on the Swan Yamaha.
On his final lap Hill fired himself up the order, to move 0.043s ahead of Rutter who looked set to top a session for the first time this season. Laverty held on to third with Easton in fourth.
“It has been a fantastic start to the weekend but I have to keep reminding myself that I am riding injured,” Hill said. “I have been riding at maybe something like 85 percent as I don’t want to push it too hard and crash which could undo all my hard work.
“People might ask why I am riding here, but I don’t want to miss out – I have a fantastic package with the team and the Swan Yamaha and I need to do everything I can to be out there scoring points.
“We are happy though at the end of day one and to be fastest was definitely more than I expected from today.”
Loris Baz had a steady start to his afternoon session but in the final two minutes he moved up to third, but with improvements from Easton and Hill he had to settle for fifth ahead of Samsung Crescent Racing’s John Hopkins.
James Westmoreland was seventh fastest on the second of the Motorpoint Yamahas with Josh Brookes breaking into the top 10 and moving up to eighth in the closing stages of the session.
HM Plant Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari showed improvement from the morning session but was 15th fastest.
South Australian Glen Richards was third in the Evo class, 16th overall aboard his WFR Honda.
In Supersport Billy McConnel was third, while Triumph teammate Paul Young was 16th.
The Superstock 1000 class saw David Johnson fifth on his Honda, while HM Plant Honda’s Jason O’Halloran was 15th.
Yamaha rider Ben Burke was 39th fastest in the uperstock 600 category.
2011 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship
Round Three – Croft
Friday Practice:
1. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1:20.763s
2. Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.043s
3. Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.088s
4. Stuart Easton (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.169s
5. Loris Baz (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.222s
6. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.440s
7. James Westmoreland (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.490s
8. Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki) +0.519s
9. Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) +0.522s
10. Peter Hickman (Tyco Honda) +0.522