Sykes second at Snetterton

From Team Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes set the second fastest lap time during free practice for round 5 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at the high-speed Snetterton circuit Friday.

Sykes ran at the front during both the 50-minute free practice sessions, putting in consistent laps as he got dialled-in to the fast 1.952-mile circuit.

"It's been a decent day," Sykes said. "Right from the off my Rizla Suzuki has felt good and I've been comfortable. My crew chief, Pete Jennings had a list of small changes for us to work through during second free practice and that took up the bulk of the session. We now have a superb set-up and I'm putting in consistent times on race tires. We have a perfect direction for my GSX-R1000 tomorrow for qualifying."

Teammate Atsushi Watanabe, who has just returned from podium success at the Suzuka 300km race in Japan, also had a productive day on track. This is the first time that he has ridden at Snetterton so he spent his first session familiarizing himself with the track before setting about dropping his lap times. He completed second free practice in 15th place.

Honda's Leon Haslam set the quickest time Friday. Qualifying takes place on Saturday.

Free Practice Results
1. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1:05.448
2. Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 1:05.547
3. Leon Camier (Ducati) 1:05.847
4. Karl Harris (Yamaha) 1:05.923
5. Michael Rutter (Ducati) 1:05.974
6. Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:06.121
7. Simon Andrews (Yamaha) 1:06.146
8. Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 1:06.485
9. Billy McConnell (Kawasaki) 1:06.495
10. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) 1:06.579