Shane Byrne headed off the determined challenges of Leon Haslam in free practice ahead of the Sunday’s opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. The two riders duelled for top spot, but it was Byrne, riding the all-new Airwaves Ducati 1098R, who came out on top, though by little more than a third of a second after the two 50 minute sessions. Byrne, who hails from nearby Sittingbourne, but who now lives in Zurich, has a special affinity with the Kent circuit: “As well as being my local circuit, it is the first place that I ever raced, and I won that day and was given the man of the meeting award.”