MICHAEL LAVERTY OUTGUNS SERIES LEADER TOMMY HILL MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Round five – 26/27 June Mallory Park, Leicestershire Michael Laverty is ready to take the fight to MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship leader Tommy Hill in the fifth round at Mallory Park after taking top spot on the free practice leaderboard. Riding Relentless Suzuki, Laverty is currently third in the title stakes, 45 points down on Hill, but he is keen to build on his recent maiden victory in the top flight at Oulton Park to boost his title hopes. “I am feeling really positive about these races and reckon that we can squeeze more out of the bike,” explained Laverty, after his 56.115secs lap, adding “We went better than first anticipated as there are a lot of other teams who have tested here ahead of these races whereas we arrived and then straight out of the box it just clicked.” Laverty knows that he will have a fight on his hands, having run barely a tenth of a second up on Worx Crescent Suzuki rider Hill who was quickly dialled into the demands of the short Leicestershire circuit. He is keen to make up ground lost by his first race tumble in the previous round at Cadwell Park, the only blot on a consistent record of finishing every other race in the top three. “At this stage in the championship we’re there to be caught,” said Hill, adding: “I’ve been speaking to other riders who have been in this situation in their championships, so I’m mindful of not putting too much pressure on myself. In fact I feel very strong and I’m here to get the wins.” Ryuichi Kiyonari, the former two times winner of the British crown, ran his HM Plant Honda third fastest, with a lap in 56.525secs, as he prepares for races in which he needs a strong points haul to put his title challenge back on track, but, he has to deal with what could become a Laverty family affair. John, the elder brother of Michael, put his Buildbase Kawasaki into fourth place, with a lap in 56.551secs, underlining his determination to take a second podium finish of the season on his team’s home circuit. Michael Rutter, a winner here a couple of years earlier, was again on the pace, fifth fastest on the RidersMotorcycles.com Ducati, to be ahead of Swan Honda’s Stuart Easton. The Scot had a technical problem during the morning session and then worked on settings next time out, to be marginally faster than Quay Garage Honda rider Tommy Bridewell. Josh Brookes, fresh from his Superstock winning double of last Sunday in the MotoGP support races at Silverstone, and his victory in the previous BSB round at Cadwell Park, was disappointed to be back in eighth place on the leaderboard, though his best lap was only 0.774secs down on that of Michael Laverty. Yukio Kagayama, returning from back injuries sustained in the Oulton Park round, set ninth best time on the second Worx Crescent Suzuki, ahead of Motorpoint Yamaha’s Dan Linfoot, whose new team-mate, twice World Supersport Champion Andrew Pitt ran thirteenth adrift of Gary Mason, riding MSS Colchester Kawasaki and Karl Harris, making a one off return to the series on the East Coast Yamaha. Steve Brogan, riding Jentin BMW, looks set to take over the lead in the chase for honours in the Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO category running some two seconds faster than Hudson Kennaugh who had a problematic time aboard the MAR Kawasaki on which he is defending a slender six points lead in the standings. For the record Top ten fastest times in Friday free practice Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) 56.115s Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.119s Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.410s John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +0.436s Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) +0.699s Stuart Easton (Swan Honda) +0.761s Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) +0.774s Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +0.793s Yukio Kagayama (Worx Crescent Suzuki) +0.830s Dan Linfoot (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.862s More, from a press release issued by Swan Honda: ELLISON RETURNS TO THE FRAY AT MALLORY PARK The Swan Honda team returned to full strength at Mallory Park today for the opening two free practice sessions at Mallory Park ahead of the fifth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship this weekend. James Ellison was back aboard the Swan Honda as he made his much-anticipated return to the championship following his Thruxton injury. He gradually improved his lap times throughout the two sessions to finish just outside the top 20 – 1.584 seconds adrift of Michael Laverty’s fastest time of the day. Stuart Easton was sixth fastest on the second of the Swan Hondas; he had suffered a minor technical problem in the opening session which halted his progress earlier in the day, but this afternoon he was again closing the gap to his championship rivals. Ellison said: “I had the test here two weeks’ ago and I have been able to continue training, so I am fitter now than I was then. My leg actually felt better after the second session today than it did the first, as the more time you spend on track the more you can get back into a rhythm and it builds up lap after lap – you could see that as I improved my times. I have no problem riding the Swan Honda but I am currently just lacking that little bit of extra strength that would put me up at the front. It is hard for me to see P21 on the pitboard, but at the same time today was only practice so I think there will be more to come. Mentally I am ready for qualifying tomorrow and the races on Sunday and I am going to be giving it everything.” Easton said: “It hasn’t been the easiest of days for me and this track always throws up some challenges, just because of the nature of the circuit but to end in sixth is not a bad start and we have some good direction to build on now ahead of qualifying tomorrow. We used the same tyre this afternoon and my best time came on that with around 35 laps already run on it, so we know that we are not a million miles away and it is a case of just making some further improvements tomorrow so that we are set for the races on Sunday.”