Brookes sets Snetterton pace

Josh Brookes topped both of Friday’s free practice sessions at Snetterton in preparation for the weekend’s triple-header, seventh round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Snetterton.

The HM Plant Honda rider showed no sign of lacking confidence after his recent high-speed crash in testing at Darley Moor as he pipped Relentless Suzuki rival Alastair Seeley for the top spot by 0.12s

Brookes said: “This is the first time I’ve been top of a Friday practice day this year and the first time I’ve topped two consecutive free practice sessions, which shows we’ve got the base set-up pretty much spot-on. 

“It’s good coming here after the past two rounds. I don’t really like Mallory Park and then Knockhill was ruined due to the weather, but this is a track where you can really use the top speed of a superbike.”

Seeley was happy to start the weekend on a positive note and said: “I’ve continued with the game plan we started at Knockhill: not too many changes, keep the electronics to a minimum and just do laps.”

Michael Rutter, fresh from his Knockhill race win was again bang on the pace with the ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati, posting third best time 0.29s off Brookes’ pace. Tommy Hill completed the top four with the Worx Suzuki.

Dan Linfoot was an impressive fifth fastest with the Motorpoint Yamaha ahead of Michael Laverty’s Relentless Suzuki, Tommy Bridewell on the Quay Honda and Buildbase Kawasaki’s John Laverty.

Linfoot’s team-mate Andrew Pitt was ninth while Chris Walker posted tenth quickest time in his debut on the sorrymate.com SMT Honda, replacing Christian Iddon who was dropped from the team last week.

Swan Honda pair James Ellison and Stuart Easton were surprisingly off the pace, struggling with set-up issues. They posted 12th and 15th times respectively.

Friday practice times
1 Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) 1m:05.731s
2 Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.120s
3 Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) +0.295s
4 Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.334s
5 Dan Linfoot (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.672s
6 Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.741s
7 Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) +0.770s
8 John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +0.775s
9 Andrew Pitt (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.946s
10 Chris Walker (Sorrymate.com SMT Honda) +1.038s

Superbike lap record:
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1m 04.688s, 108.63mph (2006)