Tommy Hill maintained his position at the top following the first free practice session at Brands Hatch as the Swan Yamaha fended off title rivals John Hopkins and Shane 'Shakey' Byrne in the closing stages.

There was drama in the early part of the session for the HM Plant Honda team as Shane 'Shakey' Byrne was shown the black/orange flag just five minutes into the session due to smoke; he returned to the garage and was soon back on track, overcoming the technical issue to move fastest with nine minutes of the session remaining. He dropped to third in the final stages as title rivals Hill and Hopkins improved in the final ten minutes

Hill had been fastest on track in the opening five minutes, after topping the official test yesterday with MSS Colchester Kawasaki's Gary Mason running strongly in the opening ten minutes, although he was nudged outside of the top ten in the final seconds of the session after dropping down the order.

Hopkins made his first venture out on to the circuit this weekend on the Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki and he went fastest ten minutes into the session on his return to the Grand Prix circuit. Hill was determined to maintain his position at the top of the times though and after Byrne had a brief spell at the top the Swan Yamaha was fastest again with six minutes remaining.

Ryuichi Kiyonari had a steady start to his session but the final two minutes saw him leap up the order on the second of the HM Plant Hondas; he had been running outside the top ten but in the closing minute he went fourth fastest ahead of Swan Yamaha's Michael Laverty.

Martin Jessopp was the leading Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati on sixth ahead of Josh Brookes who was also a rider to improve his time in the final minutes of the session which put him ahead of Michael Rutter.

Mirror.co.uk BSB Evo contender Graeme Gowland on the WFR Honda had another strong showing inside the top ten in ninth after his last lap put him ahead of James Ellison on the Sorrymate.com Honda.

The Kawasaki WSB team were still getting to grips with the Grand Prix circuit with Joan Lascorz dropping to 15th with Broc Parkes 20th behind fellow Australia Glenn Allerton on the Doodson Motorsport BMW.

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

Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1m:26.319s
John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) +0.195s
Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) +0.556s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.660s
Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.733s
Martin Jessopp (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.883s
Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.891s
Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.954s
Graeme Gowland (WFR Honda)
James Ellison (Sorrymate.com Honda)