Mahias on top from Krummenacher

Defending World Supersport champion Lucas Mahias has topped the times on Friday practice at the 2018 season opener at Phillip Island before poor weather set in.

The GRT Yamaha rider posted the time to beat at the end of the opening free practice session with a 1m 33.103s to pull out four-tenths ahead of nearest challenger Randy Krummenacher on the Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha.

Five-time World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu ended the second session on top with conditions turning late on in the session which restrained the Turkish rider to fourth on the combined timesheet behind rookie Sandro Cortese on the Kallio Racing Yamaha in third.

GRT Yamaha’s Federico Caricasulo claimed his automatic place in Superpole 2 with fifth place on the timesheet ahead of Raffelle De Rosa in sixth for MV Agusta.

Local star Anthony West impressed in seventh for EAB antwest Racing Kawasaki with Jules Cluzel (NRT Yamaha), Luke Stapleford (Profile Triumph) and Kyle Smith (Gemar Team Lorini Honda) completing the top ten automatically into the Superpole 2 session.

Niki Tuuli narrowly missed out on Superpole 2 for CIA Landlord Insurance Honda in 11^th place ahead of Ayrton Badovini in 12^th for MV Agusta.