Oulton Park British Superbikes: Karl Harris takes BSB first blood

Rob Mac Racing Yamaha’s Karl Harris has gone quickest in the first session of the weekend at Oulton Park.

The 28-year old set a best of 1.37.530 in cloudy but dry conditions at the Cheshire circuit.

Harris completed a total of 15 laps in the opening 50-minute session of the weekend, heading championship leader Shane Byrne by two tenths of a second.

Byrne only just managed to pip Crutchlow into second by four thousandths of a second.

Lap times continued to fall as the circuit dried following rainfall in the early hours of the morning.

Leon Camier completed a provisional front row, closely followed by Sykes, Haslam Ellison and Tristan Palmer who had a sterling weekend performance last time out at Mallory Park.

Simon Andrews continued his top ten performances of recent weeks, just ahead of James Haydon who is replacing Stuart Easton for the second weekend on the trot while he recovers from a wrist injury.

OULTON PARK BRITISH SUPERBIKES FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS

1. Karl Harris – RM Racing Yamaha – 1.37.530 2. Shane Byrne Airwaves Ducati – 1.37.793 3. Cal Crutchlow – HM Plant Honda – 1.37.797 4. Leon Camier – Airwaves Ducati – 1.37.847 5. Tom Sykes – Rizla Suzuki – 1.38.069 6. Leon Haslam – HM Plant Honda – 1.38.494 7. James Ellison – Hydrex Bike Animal Honda – 1.38.535 8. Tristan Palmer – Tena for Men Honda – 1.38.672 9. Michael Rutter – North West 200 Ducati – 1.38.858 10. Simon Andrews – Lloyds British Jentin Yamaha – 1.39.258 11. James Haydon – MSS Discovery Kawasaki – 1.39.751 12. Michael Laverty – Relentless Suzuki – 1.39.941 13. Billy McConnell – MSS Discovery Kawasaki – 1.39.942 14. Scott Smart – Hawk Kawasaki – 1.40.594 15. John Laverty – Buildbase NW200 Ducati – 1.40.827 16. David Johnson – Team Maxxis Honda – 1.40.912