A frantic first free practice session opened the Knockhill round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in Scotland as Shane 'Shakey' Byrne topped the times in a session where the top 21 riders were covered by less than a second.

The session started with Byrne holding the top spot with Tommy Bridewell locking out second, but the Tyco BMW rider's session was ended prematurely with a crash in the final 20 minutes of the session which dropped him down to 13th at the end of the opening practice.

As the minutes ticked down Stuart Easton leapt up to second on the times, closing in on his team-mate with 0.278s separating the pair with Josh Brookes also increasing his pace to move third for the Milwaukee Yamaha team.

The moving pair closing in on Byrne had pushed Luke Mossey back to fourth as he proved his pace with the Quattro Plant Kawasaki team in his rookie season, keeping Michael Laverty, Christian Iddon and James Ellison at bay in the closing moments.

Howie Mainwaring had forged his way back inside the top ten in eighth place on the second of the Quattro Plant Kawasakis whilst Ryuichi Kiyonari and Peter Hickman completed a close top ten ahead of this afternoon's second session.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Knockhill, free practice one result:

Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 48.487s
Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) +0.278s
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.313s
Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.321s
Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.395s
Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.401s
James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.407s
Howie Mainwaring (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.485s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.515s
Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW) +0.520s