BSB Brands Hatch Practice
 Rizla
Suzuki’s Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe completed free
practice at the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent in eighth
and 18th places respectively for round one of the Bennetts
British Superbike Championship.
The two 50-minute long sessions on the undulating 2.3 mile
circuit gave Sykes time to get dialled into his Rizla Suzuki
and allowed Watanabe to get to grips with the challenging
track where he will make his UK race debut.
Sykes improved his lap time from the morning session by 0.5secs
and feels there is more to come ahead of the singular 50-minute
qualifying session tomorrow.
“At the moment I have one or two minor areas that I
want to work on which are front end feel and engine braking,”
explained Sykes. “Once they are sorted I will be able
to fully commit to the corners. At the moment it is only practice
so I don’t want to push too hard just yet – tomorrow
afternoon is when it counts. I’m confident we can improve
for qualifying and get my Rizla Suzuki onto the front row
of the grid.”
Watanabe showed impressive form dropping his lap times by
nearly 1.5secs during the timed sessions. He said: “I
am still learning the circuit but I think it is ok. We just
make little changes to my Rizla Suzuki on the suspension and
the engine settings. I need help to learn but I learn fast
so no problem.”
Team Manager Jack Valentine commented: “We have a bit
of work to do to get the guys further up the field. We know
what we want to change and have another practice session tomorrow
morning to try those changes out. I’m impressed with
the times that Atsushi has posted today considering it is
the first time he has ever been on the full GP circuit. I
know there is more to come from Tom so I’m looking forward
to seeing improvements.”
The fastest time of the day was 1min 26.657secs set by Ducati’s
Shane Byrne. There is another practice session before qualification
tomorrow.
The Superbike racing starts at 1345 on Sunday, April 6th
and will be shown live on Eurosport.
Friday Practice Times:
1: Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1:26.657
2: Leon Haslam (Honda) +0.335
3: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +0.875
4: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +0.890
5: Leon Camier (Ducati) +1.018
6: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +1.027
7: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +1.290
8: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) +1.342
9: James Ellison (Honda) +2.143
10: Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) + 2.181
18: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) +3.060
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