British Superbikes: Cal Crutchlow ends first day at Thruxton provisionally pole

HM Plant Honda’s Cal Crutchlow set an impressive first day benchmark at Thruxton with a fastest time of 1.15.07 in difficult conditions.

Crutchlow’s time, just two tenths off the outright record set by Gregorio Lavilla in ’06, was set in extremely windy conditions at the Hampshire circuit with spits of rain dropping throughout the 50 minute session.

Leon Haslam was second quickest, half a second behind his team-mate, closely followed by Karl Harris who has continued his good form from Brands a fortnight ago.

Shane Byrne set the fourth fastest time of the day ahead of Rizla Suzuki’s Tom Sykes, fellow Ducati rider Michael Rutter and Stuart Easton on the MSS Kawasaki.

The real shock performance came from Cup rider John Laverty with the Buildbase Ducati.

He set the ninth fastest time in the second free practice session, a place ahead of his brother Michael on the Relentless Suzuki and three spots ahead of the second Airwaves Ducati piloted by Leon Camier.

FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS

1. Cal Crutchlow 1.15.071

2. Leon Haslam

3. Karl Harris

4. Shane Byrne

5. Tom Sykes

6. Michael Rutter

7. Stuart Easton

8. Simon Andrews

9. John Laverty

10. Michael Laverty

11. Billy McConnell

12. Leon Camier

13. Adam Jenkinson

14. Chris Burns

15. Tristan Palmer

16. Scott Smart

17. James Ellison

18. Dean Ellison

19. Atsushi Watanabe

20. David Johnson

21. Sean Emmett

22. Steve Mercer

23. James Buckingham

24. Malcolm Ashley

25. Michael Howarth

26. Guy Martin

27. Tom Tunstall

28. Martin Jessopp

29. Aaron Zanotti

30. Leon Morris

31. Brian McCormack