Michael Laverty fired a warning to Suzuki rival and current British Superbike Championship leader Tommy Hill on Friday after toppling him from the top spot in the final ten minutes of the second free practice session at Mallory Park.

Hill had set his fastest lap during the early stages of the session and was unable to make any further improvement, but looked set to remain at the top of the timesheets at the end of the opening day but Laverty was relentless and continued to improve before setting two consecutive laps faster than the previous best time of Hill.

HM Plant Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari steadily made progress and climbed towards the top in the final 20 minutes of the session; he displaced the impressive John Laverty on the Buildbase Kawasaki who was forced to fourth ahead of Michael Rutter who moved into the top five in the final ten minutes.

Stuart Easton was sixth on the Swan Honda whilst team-mate James Ellison continued to improve his pace to move 21st. Tommy Bridewell on the Quay Garage Honda was seventh, forcing ahead of Josh Brookes on the second HM Plant Honda. Yukio Kagayama was ninth ahead of Dan Linfoot in tenth as Motorpoint Yamaha teammate Andrew Pitt was 13th.

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