Tommy Hill tests Supersport R6 in preparation for Brands Hatch

Tommy Hill acclimatised for next weekend’s World Supersport ride on the SPP Yamaha R6 by riding the Virgin Yamaha R6 at Cadwell on Tuesday afternoon. 

Tommy Hill was at Cadwell primarily to test his BSB R1 but got two sessions on the R6 for a total of 15 laps and quickly got down to some competitive times without making any major changes to the machine.

He got down to a 1:31.27 and was confident he could have gone quicker had the session not been stopped after he had only got two flying laps after altering the gear shift pattern to make him more comfortable for backshifts.

Tommy Hill said: “I really enjoyed riding the R6. I’ve always liked to carry corner speed and you can do that on a 600. It seemed to come together pretty quickly, even I felt like I didn’t want to really give it 110% here. I’ll save that for Brands.”

Hill’s lap time compared favourably to Billy McConnell’s high 1:30s, which were only just off the lap record pace of 1:30.78 set last year by Cal Crutchlow on the Nokia Honda. Tom Grant had an off-day and was unable to break the 1:32s barrier. McConnell – last year in BSB on one of the Virgin R1s, got a chance to have a spin on one of Hill’s bikes.