Source: Supplied.

Josh Brookes struck an initial blow to his MCE British Superbike Championship rivals by topping the free practice times at Assen for the opening round of the title-deciding Showdown, but the spoilers came thick and fast to ruin the remaining Title Fighters’ ambitions.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Brookes leads the standings by a narrow two points ahead of Sunday’s two races. The Australian bounced back from a small crash in the morning session to prove he could master the changing conditions thrown at him in the afternoon to hold off the chasing pack and most importantly arch rival Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne.

However the leading title contenders were divided by the Showdown spoilers – the riders who are outside the top six and therefore not in contention for the title crown. Rookie Luke Mossey maintained his recent run of form aboard the Quattro Plant Kawasaki to run second fastest to Brookes, with Christian Iddon on the Bennetts Suzuki also in close contention.

Brookes’ new teammate Jakub Smrz, returning to the series after injury and making his debut on the Milwaukee Yamaha, set the fourth best time from WD40 Kawasaki’s Jack Kennedy.

The remaining Title Fighters know they need to come out fighting in Datatag Qualifying tomorrow and James Ellison held eighth position for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team after an early technical problem set them back initially.

Ellison was narrowly adrift of Michael Laverty on the leading Tyco BMW, however teammate Tommy Bridewell had a disastrous start in 22nd with Dan Linfoot also determined to turn around his day one performance tomorrow after ending in 17th position.

It was a promising start for Josh Waters on the second of the Bennetts Suzukis in 11th, while Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing BMW) was 16th and Jed Metcher (Gearlink Kawasaki) was 20th.

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