Cadwell Park British Superbikes: Tom Sykes completes day one double top

Rizla Suzuki’s Tom Sykes has ended the opening day of round nine of the British Superbike Championship in dominant fashion with the fastest time in both practice sessions.

Sykes, who has won three of the last four races, set the fastest lap in FP1 this morning and then went another three tenths faster this afternoon to become the only rider of the day to break into the 1.27 bracket.

Sykes’ best lap came in the closing stages of the 50-minute session on his penultimate lap.

Leon Haslam put a crash from this morning behind him to go second fastest.

According to HM Plant Team Manager Havier Beltran, Haslam was thrown over the bars and through the screen of his Fireblade after an unsettled landing over the Mountain.

As a result, Haslam is carrying a knock on his shoulder, but was obviously fit enough to set a time within a tenth of Sykes’ best.

Shane Byrne continued to stay within contention with the third fastest time, ahead of the unfortunate Cal Crutchlow,

Crutchlow has had to pull out at Park in both sessions today with mechanical failures.

Both Leon Camier and Karl Harris maintained their good form from this morning along with Michael Rutter, and Michael Laverty leapfrogged up to eighth from 12th in FP1.

The battered and bruised Simon Andrews, still limping from his Mallory Park off before his attempted WSB wildcard appearance at Brands at the beginning of the month, completed the provisional third row of the grid, with BSB organisers implementing a MotoGP style three bike per row grid this weekend.

CADWELL PARK BRITISH SUPERBIKES FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS

1. Tom Sykes Rizla Suzuki 1.27.945
2. Leon Haslam HM Plant Honda 1.28.056
3. Shane Byrne Airwaves Ducati 1.28.456
4. Cal Crutchlow HM Plant Honda 1.28.545
5. Karl Yamaha Rob Mac Racing Yamaha 1.28.846
6. Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati 1.28.916
7. Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati 1.29.020
8. Michael Laverty Relentless Suzuki 1.29.597
9. Simon Andrews Lloyds British Jentin Yamaha 1.29.734
10. Scott Smart Hawk Kawasaki 1.29.848
11. James Ellison Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 1.29.896
12. Atsushi Watanabe Rizla Suzuki 1.30.002
13. Billy McConnell MSS Discovery Kawasaki 1.30.319
14. Dean Ellison Co-ordit Yamaha 1.30.682
15. Tristan Palmer Tena for Men Honda 1.30.909
16. Chris Burns STP Superbike MV Agusta 1.30.926