2011 Croft BSB FP1/FP2 Results
Round 3 of the 2011 British Superbike Championship officially throttled into action Friday at Croft, with the BSB grid lapping the track for the first two of three practice sessions.
The man who set the pace Friday was Swan Yamaha R1 rider Tommy Hill. The North Yorkshire British Superbike rider is still healing from a crash during warm-up for the last round at Oulton Park, but battled through the pain to post a time of 1:20763, which was 0.043 of a second faster than Rapid Solicitors Bathams Ducati rider Michael Rudder.
Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha YZF-R1) says: “I’m well happy with that, but I have to keep my feet on the ground and remember that I am injured. I was running at 85-90% for much of the time but on that last lap just pushed a little bit more. I have to be realistic over the weekend.”
The third fastest British Superbike rider on Friday was last year’s race winner, Hill’s teammate Michael Laverty. Laverty was a tenth of a second quicker than MCC COlchester Kawasaki rider, Stuart Easton, who has also won at Croft. Fifth fastest time went to Loris Baz on the Motorpoint Yamaha.
As for the American John Hopkins, he was sixth quickest. Hopkings is coming off his maiden win at Oulton Park, and is looking for additional positive results aboard the Samsung Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 this weekend.
The British Superbike grid will be back on Croft Saturday from FP3 and qualifying.
2011 Croft Free Practice 1 Results:
1. Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) 1m:21.442s
2. Stuart Easton (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.314s
3. Peter Hickman (Tyco Honda) +0.315s
4. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.354s
5. Gary Mason (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.394s
6. Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.420s
2011 Croft Free Practice 2 Results:
1. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1m:20.763s
2. Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.043s
3. Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.088s
4. Stuart Easton (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.169s
5. Loris Baz (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.222s
6. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.440s
