Jonathan Rea shattered the Knockhill record in opening practice for the eight round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship but the young Ulsterman needed his super-fast lap of the Fife circuit to head off the double pronged challenge of Airwaves Ducati riders Leon Haslam and Gregorio Lavilla.
Riding the Red Bull Honda, Rea, the 19 year old from Ballyclare had been consistently on the pace throughout the two session, with his best lap of the tight, demanding 1.27 mile circuit coming in a time of 48.709secs, an average speed of 93.96mph.
That lap was almost a second inside the record set last year by Michael Rutter, and the dramatic improvement in time reflects the re-surfacing of the circuit, at a cost of £400,000, since that race.
Haslam, who goes into these races determined to end his seasonal winning dought and further reduce the 38 points by which he trails the defending champion Lavilla, ran just 0.065secs down on Rea, with Lavilla, third on the leaderboard, only a split second adrift of the 22 year old Derbyshire rider.
Ryuichi Kiyonari, the form man of the series, with three victories in the previous four races, ran fourth best aboard his HM Plant Honda – the 23 year old is gunning for an action replay of his winning double of last season here to strengthen his bid to become the first Japanese rider to win the British crown.
His best lap came in 48.896secs, a quarter of a second up on Rizla Suzuki former champion Shane Byrne who is making a racing return, having missed the Snetterton round because of a heavy tumble during first practice there.
Byrne has a good pedigree here, having taken a winning double in his title winning campaign, and a repeat of that would be a great confidence booster for him and his team which is running only one bike here, with James Haydon still unfit following his heavy crash last time out.
Tommy Hill ran sixth for Virgin Mobile Yamaha, 49.200secs, just ahead of Karl Harris on the second HM Plant Honda, while Rutter, despite a tumble from his Stobart Motorsport Honda at the Hairpin set eighth best time, 49.345secs, ahead of Hydrex Honda rider Glen Richards and Stobart’s second rider Michael Laverty.
The top ten riders all lapped inside the record, with James Buckingham, the fastest of the British Superbike Cup riders, only just missing that target, eleventh best with a time of 49.779secs, 91.94mph, but significantly, and embarrassingly ahead of a pack of factory backed riders.
The Ilfracombe rider took a winning double last year, and he needs a repeat of that aboard his Quay Garage Honda, to reel in the leader in the Cup points, Chris Martin who ran 23rd best overall and third in class, with a best lap of 50.428secs, marginally slower than Marty Nutt.
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