Home hero Shane 'Shakey' Byrne set the pace in the opening MCE British Superbike Championship free practice sessions at Snetterton, leading Frenchman Julien Da Costa, Czech's Jakub Smrz and Australia's Josh Brookes in a top six that featured five different manufactures.

Byrne upped the pace in the second session as his rival started to close in; defending champions Honda Racing got their event off to a flying start with Da Costa continuing to climb the order to end the day second fastest.

The Frenchman headed off the Millsport Ducati of Jakub Smrz, who continued to show his pace at the Norfolk circuit as the Italian manufacturer bid for their best result with the Panigale, pushing Brookes to fourth.

The Milwaukee Yamaha rider maintained his position ahead of Britain's Chris Walker on the leading Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki with James Westmoreland splitting the team-mates on the Buildbase BMW to push James Ellison to seventh.

Tommy Bridewell, Patric Muff and Ryuichi Kiyonari completed the top ten to represent six different nationalities in the top ten as the pack shuffled in the final minutes of the session ahead of tomorrow's Datatag Extreme Qualifying session.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Snetterton, free practice two:

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:48.181s
Julien Da Costa (Honda Racing) +0.128s
Jakub Smrz (Millsport Ducati) +0.527s
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.749s
Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.782s
James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) +0.852s
James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +1.028s
Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +1.159s
Patric Muff (Bathams BMW) +1.238s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +1.279s



.