SWAN YAMAHA GET BRITISH SUPERBIKE SEASON STARTED AT BRANDS HATCH The Swan Yamaha team returned to action today (Friday) at Brands Hatch for the hour-long final test session ahead of Monday’s opening two races of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship. Tommy Hill set the third fastest time, just 0.276s off the pace-setting lap, as he bounced back from his recent crash during testing at Snetterton. Hill is determined to give his home crowd a strong finish on Easter Monday and is feeling confident ahead of tomorrow’s two free practice sessions. Michael Laverty ended the day fifth fastest on the second Swan Yamaha and was feeling positive about the progress the team have already made during the opening session of the weekend. Hill said: “We have got off to a good start; today was about getting into the groove as I have only done about twelve laps in the last eight weeks! I bedded in some new discs and caught up on some of the things we wanted to try at Snetterton, which I didn’t get the chance to do because of my crash. I just got my head down and I felt pretty comfortable from the start. We have had a member of the Yamaha WSB team here and he has been helping us with the new electronics and that has been invaluable as the team have learnt so much. We found a few issues which we have resolved and now we are definitely feeling confident. We still have lots we want to test tomorrow, but at the end of the day I am feeling good.” Laverty said: “It has been great being back on the Swan Yamaha and it has been a good day for us really. We worked through some minor changes and now have a better understanding of what we need to focus on tomorrow. My fastest lap of the session came on my last run before the end and that was on an old tyre so I know if we had changed for a new one that we could have gone faster. It has been a good start to the weekend and now we just need to carry on building on that tomorrow.” MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, final test: 1. Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) 45.777s 2. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.170s 3. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.276s 4. Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.297s 5. Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.355s