The Milwaukee Yamaha team kicked off the final round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch today (Friday) with James Ellison and Tommy Bridewell ending the opening free practice sessions in seventh and eighth respectively.

The first session was held in damp conditions and Ellison went out and completed a single lap before watching from the garage for the remainder of the session alongside team-mate Bridewell. However the conditions improved for the second free practice this afternoon and Ellison and Bridewell both had their chance to tackle the Grand Prix circuit in the dry. Ellison and Bridewell may have finished seventh and eighth on the timesheets but the pair are both confident that they will be ready to challenge for the podium in the opening race tomorrow ahead of Sunday’s further two races.

Ellison said:

“Today has been a bit of an average day and with the mixed conditions this morning it just didn’t work out for us but this afternoon it was a bit better. We found something to improve this afternoon but on my best lap of the session I had to scrap it because of traffic, so we know we have more in reserve. It obviously would be nice to be further up the order at the end of today but I am not worried and we will try and make sure we are not disappointed in the first race tomorrow.”

Bridewell said:

“Today I was happy with the way it went because realistically everyone else has been here once this year so I was a meeting behind. We missed this morning because of the weather and then this afternoon we just got on with the job and although we are a bit off Shakey and Alex at the top of the times, we are definitely in a good place. We know that tomorrow we can find some more and then hopefully we can have a go for those podiums.”

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