Brands Hatch - Ryuichi Kiyonari - fastest lap in qualifying. World Superbike

Ryuichi Kiyonari has taken the fastest lap on the opening day of qualifying for the Brands Hatch World Superbike round.

Kiyo held off Noriyuki Haga, the fastest man in the morning practice session, to take the top spot on the time sheets by over a tenth of a second.

And it was fellow countryman Yukio Kagayama who had to settle for third place just 0.012 seconds down on Haga.

It was Max Biaggi who took the honour of fastest Ducati rider in fourth place with a surprise showing from Czech rider Jacob Smrz finishing the day fifth fastest.

British Superbike regular Tom Sykes finished ninth overall on his BSB spec Suzuki GSX-R1000, but the surprise of the day came with Troy Bayliss way down the order in 12th and Carlos Checa 16th.

Top ten:
R. KIYONARI
N. HAGA
Y. KAGAYAMA
M. BIAGGI
J. SMRZ
G. LAVILLA
T. CORSER
K. MUGGERIDGE
T. SYKES
F. NIETO


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