Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki's Shane 'Shakey' Byrne maintained his position at the top of the timesheets in Almeria this afternoon as the triple title-winner set his best lap of the test in the final session of the penultimate day.

Byrne has held the top spot, but this afternoon Chris Walker fired the Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki up to second place as he became only the second rider to dip into the 1m:36s lap times after celebrating his birthday yesterday.

Byrne said: "It has been a much better day than it was yesterday, especially weather wise. I have to admit I was a little bit concerned when we left the hotel this morning as it seemed the hurricane Almeria was still with us, but it has been a pretty solid day today. We have definitely worked through some stuff that we needed to try, improved our lap time, stayed fastest which is always nice and we still have more stuff to try tomorrow. That is the final day here before going back to England and the Donington Park and Snetterton official tests."

Howie Mainwaring on the leading Quattro Plant Kawasaki ended the day third fastest as he saved his best until last in the final session of the day to move ahead of James Ellison on the second Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasakis who also improved his pace this afternoon.

Martin Jessopp continued his development work with the RidersMotorcycles BMW, dropping into the low 1m:37s as he edged ahead of Dan Linfoot and Stuart Easton. Rhalf Lo Turco was eighth fastest.

Almeria test, day two, combined times:

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:36.1s
Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.727s
Howie Mainwaring (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.899s
James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.997s
Martin Jessopp (RidersMotorcycles BMW) +1.21s
Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +1.234s
Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +1.627s
Rhalf Lo Turco (SBK City Kawasaki) +6.740s

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