Jason O’Halloran got the jump on his Bennetts British Superbike Championship rivals in the opening free practice session at Brands Hatch this afternoon as the McAMS Yamaha rider held the advantage in the times, leading the way by 0.076s.
O’Halloran held the position from SYNETIQ BMW’s Bradley Ray who had a stunning start to his home round in second place, nudging title contender Glenn Irwin for Honda Racing into third place ahead of tomorrow’s opening race.
Luke Mossey was another rider to break up the title contenders in the opening session as he fired his Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW into fourth place, narrowly ahead of championship leader Josh Brookes. The Australian will be striving to hold on to his advantage in the standings, with 16-points between him and his VisionTrack Ducati teammate Christian Iddon.
Iddon was just adrift in sixth place with Andrew Irwin and Tommy Bridewell next up in the order as Héctor Barberá and Danny Buchan completed the top ten.
For the fifth of the title contenders, it was a disastrous start to the weekend with Tarran Mackenzie crashing out at Stirlings, and sidelined for the majority of the session. The McAMS Yamaha rider ending the opening day in 18th place.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch GP, Free Practice 1:
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m26:113s
- Bradley Ray (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.076s
- Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.169s
- Luke Mossey (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.322s
- Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.407s
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.509s
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.556s
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.748s
- Héctor Barberá (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.830s
- Danny Buchan (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) +0.877s
For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha)
Bennetts BSB – Fastest in free practice
“I love riding the GP circuit here at Brands Hatch. I eased into it and felt comfortable pretty much from my out lap and I felt happy with the setting of the McAMS Yamaha.
“I built into it, went back out at the end and wanted to try and improve my pace, but the track was quite cool so I just played it safe.
“We got plenty of laps in and I don’t think we are far away; we will make some small tweaks tonight but we should be in good shape for tomorrow.
“I can’t wait to get stuck in with qualifying and the first race tomorrow to see what we can do!”
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