MCE British Superbike Championship

TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands

September 30, 2016

Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Christian Iddon, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:36.752

2. Shane Byrne, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:36.850

3. Leon Haslam, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.862

4. Luke Mossey, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.959

5. Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic (BMW S1000RR), 1:36.993

6. Broc Parkes, Australia (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.018

7. James Ellison, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:37.225

8. Dan Linfoot, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:37.315

9. Richard Cooper, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.332

10. Jason O’Halloran, Australia (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:37.434

11. Tommy Bridewell, UK (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:37.708

12. John Hopkins, USA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.726

13. Peter Hickman, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:37.955

14. Michael Laverty, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.994

15. Glenn Irwin, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:38.068

16. Lee Jackson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:38.192

17. Martin Jessopp, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:38.297

18. Billy McConnell, Australia (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.497

19. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Italy (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.611

20. James Rispoli, USA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:38.703

21. Alastair Seeley, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:38.742

22. Filip Backlund, Sweden (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.994

23. Alex Polita, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:39.481

24. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Japan (BMW S1000RR), 1:39.550

25. Aaron Zanotti, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:39.679

26. Josh Hook, Australia (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:39.709

27. Ian Hutchinson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:40.728

28. Jenny Tinmouth, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:41.095

29. Shaun Winfield, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:41.146

30. Josh Wainwright, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:43.352

More, from a press release issued by MotorSport Vision Racing:

Showdown spoiler Iddon fires ahead of Byrne and Haslam as Assen weekend kicks off!

Showdown spoiler Christian Iddon kicked off the Assen round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship by forging his way ahead of leading title contenders Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne and Leon Haslam in the opening free practice sessions at the legendary circuit.

Dan Linfoot had led the opening session, running just 0.031s ahead of Iddon, but the times tumbled in the afternoon and the Tyco BMW rider fought back to the top in a session where the leading trio set a time within the existing lap record ahead of tomorrow’s Datatag Qualifying session.

At the start of the second session Haslam hit the top of the times as he bids to overhaul Byrne this weekend, running ahead of his Be Wiser Ducati rival, Luke Mossey and Linfoot.

The positions were constantly shuffling and the Title Fighters continued to close in at the top with James Ellison leaping inside the top five with just 15 minutes remaining of the session, pushing the Honda Racing pairing down the order with Linfoot in sixth and O’Halloran running 12th.

An intense final ten minutes saw another shake up as the contenders headed out for their last run of the session with Haslam still holding the advantage from Byrne by 0.307s. Iddon was pushing on the Tyco BMW and with three minutes left he fired his way to the top, moving narrowly ahead of Haslam on the leading JG Speedfit Kawasaki.

As the final five minutes approached, O’Halloran was the only Title Fighter to be outside the top ten and still running 12th fastest. Jakub Smrz was also on the move, pushing into the top five on the Smiths Racing BMW.

When the chequered flag fell Iddon maintained his advantage from Title Fighters Byrne, Haslam and Mossey with Smrz and the ePayMe Yamaha of Broc Parkes splitting the title contenders. Ellison was seventh fastest on the second JG Speedfit Kawasaki ahead of Linfoot on the leading Honda Racing Fireblade.

Richard Cooper onboard the Buildbase BMW split the Honda Racing pairing, with Bridewell and John Hopkins just outside the top ten.

The top twelve riders were separated by just 0.974s ahead of tomorrow’s Datatag Qualifying session.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Assen, Free Practice one:

Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) 1m:37.360s

Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +0.031s

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.042s

Richard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +0.250s

Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.559s

Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.656s

John Hopkins (ePayMe Yamaha) +0.662s

Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.687s

Jakub Smrz (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.703s

Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.732s

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Assen, free practice two:

Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) 1m:36.752s

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.098s

Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.110s

Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.207s

Jakub Smrz (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.241s

Broc Parkes (ePayMe Yamaha) +0.266s

James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.473s

Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.563s

Richard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +0.580s

Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.682s

For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW)

Fastest rider in free practice

“I always enjoy Assen; it’s a wicked track and I love it! We had a pretty good day on track and replicated what we did here last year, so to have been first and second in the opening practice sessions is a good start for me and the team.

“We have been looking at the different tyres as we don’t know what we are going to use yet for the races, but we plan to do some race simulations tomorrow to give ourselves a better idea. I feel good on the Tyco BMW and am really enjoying being here so we just need to keep that up for qualifying tomorrow and then the races on Sunday.”

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati)

Championship leader, second in free practice

“Today has actually been quite a difficult day; the initial lap time this morning came really easily with the bike but the initial feeling wasn’t overly great. We have tried a few things this morning and this afternoon and we have not quite hit the nail on the head yet. Some weekends with this bike you rock up and it feels great from the off and then others you have to do a little bit more work.

“The good thing is now I feel that we still have quite a lot of work to do but from a pace point of view we are there or thereabouts so for that I am really happy, with what I know I still have in me and in the bike still I am happy. If I had to give you a one out of ten for how the day has been, I would probably say five because we have that work to do still.

“This time at Donington we were ready for a race run on Saturday morning and we are far from that right now, but at the same time we are still competitive, so we will look over the data tonight and keep chipping away to find the better feeling tomorrow.”