Shane 'Shakey' Byrne was fired up to return to the top of the timesheets at Knockhill in the second MCE British Superbike Championship free practice session and this afternoon the triple champion pushed Ryuichi Kiyonari back to second place.

Byrne had missed out in the opening session by 0.005s to the flying Buildbase BMW rider, but this afternoon he avenged his fellow triple champion to push him back to second with just over ten minutes of practice two remaining.

Byrne said:

"Today was one of those situations we have been in before, where normally I love riding my Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, but today I only liked it. There are some areas we are working hard on as a team as I didn't feel like I could push hard enough. It was a bit annoying, but I know the team have some big plans for tomorrow so we will be ready."

The pair had been closed down by Josh Brookes on the Milwaukee Yamaha as the Australian vowed to come out fighting at Knockhill after his crash at Snetterton; he fired ahead of local hero Stuart Easton to seal the third fastest time ahead of tomorrow's Datatag Extreme qualifying.

The second Milwaukee Yamaha of Tommy Bridewell locks out fifth position; the Devizes rider had been pushing at the front during both sessions and proved he is hungry to build on his podium finish from Snetterton.

Tyco Suzuki had a stronger start to their weekend with John Hopkins settling down in Scotland to push through to sixth place ahead of Michael Rutter on the Bathams BMW. Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki's Chris Walker bounced back from his crash this morning to post the eighth fastest lap with James Westmoreland and James Ellison completing the top ten.

Jakub Smrz and Ian Hutchinson both crashed unhurt in the session where the top twelve riders were covered by just 0.995s.

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

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 48.243s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.254s
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.293s
Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.409s
Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.468s
John Hopkins (Tyco Suzuki) +0.562s
Michael Rutter (Bathams BMW) +0.682s
Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.729s
James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) +0.798s
James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.920s


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