Broc Parkes and his World Superbike Kawasaki team-mate Sheridan Morais set the free practice pace ahead of the weekend’s triple-race eighth round of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.
FIM Superbike World Championship regulars Paul Bird Motorsport are making a one-off appearance in the British series during the long summer break in their own championship, with the team eager to capitalise on further development of their machines in a competitive racing environment.
Bird’s riders took full advantage, with Parkes setting a scorching pace in the afternoon session, his best lap of one minute 26.910 seconds coming at an average speed of 95.30mph. The Press Association
After the morning’s session was affected by damp, misty conditions, this afternoon was effectively the first ‘real’ session and Parkes and Morais held the top spots for the majority of the 50-minutes.
However, it was the Australian who came out on top with a lap of 1m26.910s around the 2.3-mile GP circuit and he got the better of Morais, deputising for the injured Makoto Tamada, by 0.113s.
Easton put in a time of 1m27.435s towards the end of the session to slot in to third with Tommy Hill and Chris Walker continuing their strong Mallory Park form in fourth and fifth respectively. Motorcycle News
“I really like the circuit and enjoy racing here,” said Parkes.
“The fact we need as much time on the track as possible with the Ninja ZX-10R to test means this is a good opportunity for us.”
“This is a bonus for us and we want to get some decent results here as this is Paul’s old hunting ground.” UK Express
Morias (24), who currently leads both Superbike and Supersport series in South Africa, was drafted into Birdy’s WSB team to replace the injured Japanese rider Makoto Tamada; and to complete Kawasaki’s resurgence in the Superbike class, Michael Rutter [8th], Julien Da Costa [6th] and John Laverty [10th] are all inside the top 10 after yesterday’s sessions.
Rutter started the season with the Coca-Cola NW200 Yamaha team before taking on temporary seats at Worx Crescent Suzuki and SMT Honda, and this weekend he replaces the injured MSS Colchester Kawasaki rider Simon Andrews.
Rutter last rode for Nick Morgan’s team in 2007 and is confident of maintaining their current run of form. Belfast Telegraph
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