The MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship kicked off at Brands Hatch this morning and the leading contenders had a real shake up as the weekend got underway and the MCE BSB Monster Energy 'King of Brands' challenge beckons on Sunday.

The session started with defending champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne setting the pace, but Josh Brookes is determined to fight for his first win of the season this weekend and the Milwaukee Yamaha rider waited until the closing ten minutes to make his move.

The Australian upped the pace to move fastest ahead of Byrne, who had pushed back up to second in the final minutes for the PBM Kawasaki team after Richard Cooper put in his best performance of the season so far to put the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki in third position ahead of Michael Laverty on the Tyco BMW.

James Ellison was back up to fifth in the final ten minutes for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team, the two team-mates split by Jack Kennedy on the Team WD-40 Kawasaki, just 0.159s ahead of James Ellison and Stuart Easton who dropped to eighth in the closing moments.

MCE BSB rookies Luke Mossey and Danny Buchan completed the top ten for the Quattro Plant Kawasaki and Be Wiser Kawasaki teams respectively, pushing Tommy Bridewell and an improving John Hopkins outside the top ten, with Ryuichi Kiyonari holding 13th in a top 17 covered by 0.946s.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, free practice one:

Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) 1m:26.388s
Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) +0.025s
Richard Cooper (Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki) +0.058s
Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.264s
James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.313s
Jack Kennedy (Team WD-40 Kawasaki) +0.497s
James Westmoreland (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.656s
Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) +0.658s
Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.676s
Danny Buchan (Be Wiser Kawasaki) +0.686s