Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki's John Hopkins fired himself to the top of the timesheets on his final lap of warm up to displace pole position sitter Michael Laverty at Silverstone this morning ahead of the opening race of the day this afternoon.

Tommy Hill set the early pace in the session as the Swan Yamaha rider led from Motorpoint Yamaha's Alex Lowes over the opening minutes; he starts from the second row today and was working through some final tweaks ahead of the opening race. Hill ended the session fourth fastest as his rivals made further improvements in the closing stages.

Peter Hickman nearly ended his warm up session early when he crashed the Tyco Honda at the Loop with just under ten minutes remaining but he was able to rejoin and continue the session, finishing just outside the top ten in twelfth.

Hopkins took the top spot from Hill with five minutes remaining, but the Swan Yamaha team were on the attack and Laverty then moved ahead of the championship leader and looked set to remain there until the final seconds when Hopkins' last lap fired him to the top of the order.

Shane 'Shakey' Byrne was clearly beginning to resolve some of the chatter issues they had suffered earlier in the weekend as he was third fastest, whilst team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari continued to struggle in 17th. Lowes maintained a top five position for Motorpoint Yamaha, with Jon Kirkham splitting him and team-mate Tommy Hill Bridewell in seventh.

James Westmoreland had an impressive session on the 2012 BSB specification WFR Honda to end the session eighth fastest ahead of Michael Rutter on the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati as Josh Brookes on the Relentless Suzuki by TAS rounded out the top ten.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, warm up result:

John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) 2m:06.567s
Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.126s
Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) +0.154s
Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.555s
Alex Lowes (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.809s
Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) +0.891s
Tommy Bridewell (Motorpoint Yamaha) +1.622s
James Westmoreland (WFR Honda) +1.625s
Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +1.778s
Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +1889s

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