Alex Lowes was quick in both wet and dry conditions on the Samsung Honda at Thruxton. Image: BritishSuperbikes.com.

Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes has topped both wet and dry practice sessions on the opening day of on-track action for round two of the British Superbike Championship at Thruxton.

On a damp track and in windy conditions, Lowes had set the pace early in the morning session, before he was displaced by Padgetts Honda’s Jakub Smrz who had an impressive start to his first outing at the Hampshire circuit.

He ended the session third-fastest as he was nudged to third in the final minutes by Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Keith Farmer whilst his teammate Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne was fifth.

Tyco Suzuki’s Australian rider Josh Brookes was fourth with James Westmoreland on the Buildbase BMW clocking the sixth-fastest time.

The lone Lloyds British GBmoto Honda of Peter Hickman was seventh ahead of the Milwaukee Yamaha pairing of James Ellison and Josh Waters. Bathams Honda’s Michael Rutter completed the top ten.

As conditions improved and the track dried it was again Lowes who rose to the top, relegating early leader Byrne to second.

US rider PJ Jacobsen brought his Tyco Suzuki into the top two in a surprise performance on debut at the track.

Brookes maintained his morning form to finish the day fourth on the timesheets, while fellow Australian, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Waters, improved two places from practice one to round out the day in seventh place.

Triumph was atop the Supersport practice results again, though top spot this time belonged to Richard Cooper on the Oxford TAG Triumph machine.

Australian riders factored strongly in the top 10; Glen Richards was second, Billy McConnell fourth and Jason O’Halloran eighth.

The lone Australian combatant in the Superstock 1000 field, Bryce van Hoof will move to the Last Chance Qualifying session in order to secure a spot on the grid after finishing his group session in 26th place.

In the Superstock 600 field, Mark Wilkinson put in a stellar time in practice for fourth fastest but was relegated to 17th as the field found their stride in the first qualifying session.

Levi Day made good gains during the day, improving from 23rd-fastest in practice to 16th place in qualifying one.

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