From a press release issued by MonsterMob Ducati:
Round 13 – 2002 MCN British Superbike Championship – Donington Park – September 29th
HISLOP DRAWS FIRST BLOOD
MonsterMob Ducati rider Steve Hislop silenced his critics by setting fastest time in all three sessions at today’s practice day in readiness for Sunday’s British Superbike Championship showdown at Donington Park.
37 points to the good in the series, the 40-year-old Scot posted a fastest time of 1:32.616 in the first session, one-and-a-half seconds quicker than his nearest rival, to maintain his mantle of the fastest-ever Superbike racer around the 2.5 mile Leicestershire track, bettering the 1:32.651 he set at the 2001 World Superbike meeting on his way to pole position last May.
“The track conditions were perfect in the first session but we were still working on the fuelling and gearing so to set that time without an ideal set up was fantastic, plus we had some new tyres to get used to also. The humidity meant the track was slower in the second two sessions but I was still fastest by a decent margin and we’ve got some improvements to make overnight so I’m really looking forward to Sunday. Hopefully, it’s shut one or two people up!” joked Hislop.
Fellow Ducati rider Michael Rutter ended up second fastest in each session, eventually finishing half-a-second down on Hislop whilst main championship rival Sean Emmett was third-fastest on his Yamaha, nearly a second down on the MonsterMob man.