Camier was third fastest this morning behind leon Haslam on the HM Plant Honda, and Crutchlow fifth. But at the moment it's hard to imagine any of them toppling the rampant Byrne on this circuit this weekend.
The top six this morning were:
1. Shane Byrne (Airwaves Ducati) 1m 27.158s
2. Leon Haslam (HM Plant Honda) 1m 27.317s
3. Leon Camier (Airwaves Ducati) 1m 27.571s
4. Cal Crutchlow (HM Plant Honda) 1m 27.966s
5. Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 1m 27.966s
6 Michael Rutter (NW200 Ducati) 1m 28.036s
Saturday am - Sykes Will Win Races Soon
"You can always tell when a rider is starting to show top form," Jack Valentine says. "He starts being up on top of the practice sheets, the qualifying sheets and the warm-up."
I caught up with the veteran team manager in the Rizla Suzuki truck in the pits at Brands this morning, and we talked about his new protégé, the 22-year-old Tom Sykes. Sykes is one of the young lions trying to break through in the British Superbike Championship, but the season's been frustrating for him so far.
He has led two of the six races, but he experienced tyre problems at Thruxton, and at
Oulton Park last week he was bundled off by HM Plant's Leon Haslam, who was stripped of his fourth place finishing position.
"Tom is a very relaxed and thinking rider," Valentine continued. "You won't see him going straight out in a session and pulling the pin. He'll do a few laps, then give the team some very good feedback. When he knows the bike is right he puts in the fast laps."
Even Valentine's vast experience - he's run his own V&M team, the Valmoto Triumph British Supersport venture and Carl Fogarty's ill-fated Petronas World Superbike effort - hasn't helped him to identify the cause of Sykes' problem at
Thruxton.
"We were getting more spin on the rear tyre on the second lap of the second race than on the last lap of the first race," he said. "It's very peculiar."
