Shane 'Shakey' Byrne topped the times for the first time this weekend at Brands Hatch as the defending champion edged out Josh Brookes in the final MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship free practice session.

Byrne had been building pace throughout the session to displace Brookes from the top in the final ten minutes, 0.154s separated the pair ahead of this afternoon's Datatag Extreme Qualifying which will decide the grid for the opening race of the weekend.

The pair though were being hunted down by the Tyco BMW pairing of Tommy Bridewell and Michael Laverty, with just 0.027s between the team-mates at the chequered flag. They displaced a hard-charging Richard Cooper who continued to impress with his pace onboard the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki in fifth overall.

Peter Hickman held sixth position on the timesheets for the RAF Reserves BMW team, nudging James Ellison on the leading JG Speedfit Kawasaki to seventh. Luke Mossey, the MCE BSB rookie, was eighth fastest after running third earlier in the final free practice, with James Westmoreland and Christian Iddon completing the top ten.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, Free Practice combined:

Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 1m:25.411s
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.154s
Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) +0.671s
Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.780s
Richard Cooper (Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki) +0.793s
Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW) +0.823s
James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.888s
Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.984s
James Westmoreland (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.925s
Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.947s