Home hero Easton third fastest in practice

The Swan Honda team had a positive start to the weekend at Knockhill as Stuart Easton ended the opening two practice sessions third fastest, whilst James Ellison continued to improve his lap times but was just nudged outside the top ten.

Easton made strong progress throughout the two sessions as he strives to make amends for a disappointing weekend at Mallory Park, with his best time 0.435 seconds off Michael Laverty's leading lap.

Ellison broke inside the top ten for the first time since his injury in the first session, but he just missed out this afternoon despite a faster lap time and ended the day twelfth fastest.

Easton said: "It has been quite a good day for me, especially compared to how the weekend started at Mallory Park last weekend. To be fourth then third shows consistency and it has given us some ideas on what needs to be done tomorrow ahead of qualifying. We made progress with the suspension which improved the balance of the Swan Honda and that really felt like a good step forward. We still have work to do as my ideal time was two tenths faster than my actual lap, so tomorrow we need to come out fighting and pull the pin in qualifying."

Ellison said: "To finish the opening session tenth fastest was a really good way for me to start the weekend and such a confidence boost after quite a challenging round at Mallory Park. I was running P5 for a bit and that was great seeing that on the pitboard especially after being so far down the order this time last week. It feels promising as I didn't feel tired after the session and I feel happier and positive about a good result - I went faster this afternoon but unfortunately dropped two places down the order. It is only early days in the weekend but I feel there is a lot more to come from me and the Swan Honda with some further changes tomorrow before qualifying."