Rizla Suzuki's Cal Crutchlow finished today's practice sessions in sixth place, a mere 0.367secs behind the fastest rider at Croft in North Yorkshire, in preparation for Sunday's 10th round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
Last time out at Mallory Park three weeks ago, he recorded a career-best-equalling fifth place and he has kept that momentum going. He said: "When it is sunny and dry it is much more enjoyable riding a Superbike and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on track today.
"We had a plan to change nothing on my bike from the way it was set-up at Mallory Park and we stuck to it. We tried a couple of Dunlop different tyres and I concentrated on putting together fast consistent laps and it worked for us. We now have a favoured tyre for the race and we will fine tune the bike tomorrow for more speed - I'm confident."
Rizla Suzuki's Chris 'Stalker' Walker ended the day 11th after softening his GSX-R1000 throughout the day. "After a couple of laps we decided to soften the bike off to give more confidence through the corners and we followed that direction through the day," said Stalker. "I think we went too far and will go back closer to our initial settings tomorrow morning.
"I completed a fair number of laps and now know the circuit well. There's a lot more to come from my Rizla Suzuki and myself."
The 2.13-mile long Croft circuit near Darlington in North Yorkshire is flat and twisty with plenty of fast and slow turns that allow the riders to make the most of the agile and powerful Rizla Suzuki Superbikes. Honda's Jonathan Rea was quickest today.
Rizla Suzuki Team Manager Simon Buckmaster
"I am impressed by Cal's mature approach and performance. Without doubt he has had his best practice day performance of the year and we are optimistic he can carry that through for the rest of the weekend.
"Chris followed a plan to set-up his bike and it didn't quite work as planned. He is completely focussed and easily capable of improving; he is champing at the bit to be racing at the sharp end of the time sheets."
Practice Times:
- Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1:20.110
- Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +0.115
- Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +0.248
- Leon Haslam (Ducati) +0.294
- Tom Sykes (Honda) +0.301
- Cal Crutchlow (Rizla Suzuki) +0.367
- Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +0.373
- Shane Byrne (Honda) +0.476
- Leon Camier (Honda) +0.605
- Karl Harris (Honda) +1.404
- Chris Walker (Rizla Suzuki) +1.454
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