Crutchlow leads at Thruxton

From Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe got their team's home round off to a good start Friday during free practice for the second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Thruxton, finishing in fifth and 19th places respectively.

Sykes improved his lap times by 0.8secs between free practice one and two, while his teammate Watanabe knocked an impressive 1.4secs off his time as he got to grips with the fastest track on the calendar.

"We are just refining my Rizla Suzuki's set-up now," explained a confident Sykes. "We have a good direction to go in. However, there are two or three corners where I'm not so strong. Once we get to the bottom of that I will be able to push harder. I'm fast in the first sector so we need to concentrate on the second sector, we will find the cure and be up there for sure."

The high speed 2.4-mile track is a new challenge for two-time Japanese Superbike Champion Watanabe.

He said: "I am still learning; the circuit is very, very fast but the layout is easy. It has a different feeling to Brands Hatch and is very bumpy. My lap times improved but my result has not and I'm not so happy with this. I got my fastest lap early in the session, then I tried a new tire and think I should go faster but I didn't improve."

The fastest time was set by Honda's Cal Crutchlow with a time of 1:15.071. Third free practice takes place Saturday at 10:25 followed by a 50-minute qualifying session at 2:15.

Practice Times:
1: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:15.071
2: Leon Haslam (Honda) +0.581
3: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +0.721
4: Shane Byrne (Ducati) +0.899
5: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) +1.040
6: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +1.081
7: Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +1.619
8: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +1.900
9: John Laverty C (Ducati) +2.112
10: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +2.132