Brands Hatch BSB: Byrne lands the first hit of the weekend

Shane Byrne has landed the first hit of the weekend over championship rival Ryuichi Kiyonari by taking the top spot on the opening day of action at Brands Hatch. Byrne finished the day at his home track nearly half a second faster than second place man James Ellison.

With overnight rain meaning the morning session was ran on damp track conditions, glorious sunshine soon broke out meaning that the leading pack were able to get up to pace by the second session of the day.

Byrne said after the practice: “The track conditions this morning were really sketchy, but I went out with about five minutes to go, and I could just see the dry line starting to form, and knew it was going to be such a good day when it dried out! In the afternoon, we had a pretty good run on the tyre, made some changes and went faster and faster. The boys have a plan for tonight, but fingers crossed now!”