Triple MCE Insurance British Superbike title winner Ryuichi Kiyonari started his new season strongly at Brands Hatch this afternoon, pushing inside the top five on his debut with the Buildbase BMW team.

Kiyonari made the shock switch to BMW during the winter after spending his entire career with Honda, but during the test session this afternoon at the Kent circuit he proved he was settled with his new team as he bids to return to winning ways.


Kiyonari said:

"At the beginning of the session I was trying to get comfortable again as the last time I rode I had the silly crash at Snetterton. I used the session to build up my confidence again and I was feeling good at the end. Today was the first time we made some changes to the bike because before I was learning it and how it felt before we tried different things. There were some good points today and also some that were not so good but I am very happy to be in the top five again. I was moving forward and I think we can do more tomorrow once we have had some more laps."

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