Day one of the first official test for the Bennetts British Superbike Championship concluded earlier this evening, with TT stars Dean Harrison, James Hillier, Gary Johnson and Lee Johnston all taking to the track as their preparations for the 2019 race season continue.

Harrison lead the way and completed an impressive 83 laps of the Monteblanco Circuit onboard his Silicone Engineering Kawasaki ZX10-RR- the second highest number of laps overall. His best lap time of 1 minute 39.572 seconds put him 17th on the overall timesheets, marginally ahead of James Hillier in 18th.

Riding for the Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki team for a remarkable eighth successive year, Hillier set a best time of 1 minute 39.611 seconds in the afternoon session and completed a total of 59 laps on the first day.

Lee Johnston sat out much of the morning session as he waited for the track temperature to rise, before completing a total of 42 laps on the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha R6 that he will ride in a number of the British Supersport Championship rounds, as well as the two Monster Energy Supersport Races at the 2019 Isle of Man TT Races. His fastest lap of 1 minute 41.912 seconds came early in the day, and was enough to ensure he finished as the fastest 600cc Supersport rider at the test.

Gary Johnson of the Lee Hardy Racing RAF Regular & Reserves Team completed 42 laps in total, with a fastest lap of 1 minute 44.755 seconds on his Kawasaki ZX10-RR. A couple of technical issues limited his running in the middle part of the day, but the two-time TT Race winner was able to put together some longer runs towards the end of the afternoon. 2019 will be Johnson’s second year with the team, and he is eager to see what this consistency will bring to his TT results.



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