Tom Sykes came away with the fastest time in the second free practice session of the weekend at
Mallory Park, although he was one of only a handful of riders to even set a time as rain descended on the circuit.
With the heavens opening shortly before the session started, while it proved to only be a brief shower, it was enough to leave the circuit rather greasy. As such, only a small number of riders decided to brave the conditions, including Leon Haslam, who was fastest after ten minutes.
However, with the circuit taking a while to get any kind of dry line, there was barely any action on circuit for around 30 minutes, with Chris Burns providing the only action as he circulated on the returning MV Agusta bike.
When he began to threaten Haslam's fastest lap though, several more riders joined the fray, including Sykes, who climbed his way to the top of the timesheets with around ten minutes remaining.
However, when the rain returned shortly afterwards, only a few riders stayed out to try and get some damp mileage under their belts, leaving Sykes comfortably ahead.
His lap was good enough to edge Tristan Palmer on the Tena for Men Honda, while Burns held on for the third best time and emerge as the best of the Daily Star Cup runners. However, with 12 riders refusing to even set a lap – including both Airwaves Ducatis -, the results aren't likely to mirror the coming weekend.
Nonetheless, Haslam finished up fourth with the lap he set in the first few minutes, ahead of Karl Harris, Atsushi Watanabe, Aaron Zanotti and Cal Crutchlow.
