O’Halloran holds off Bridewell and Haslam after opening Snetterton action

Jason O’Halloran fired himself to the top of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship combined Free Practice times at Snetterton as the McAMS Yamaha rider held off his title rivals to set the pace after the opening action in Norfolk.

O’Halloran saved his best until last, moving to the top of the second session in the closing moments to launch ahead of championship leader Tommy Bridewell on the BeerMonster Ducati as 0.283s separated the leading pair at the chequered flag.

Leon Haslam was third fastest for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team making it three different manufacturers and teams locking out the top three positions.

Local contender Ryan Vickers led the charge for LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha, narrowly ahead of teammate Kyle Ryde, who surged up the times this afternoon to complete the top five.

Glenn Irwin was sixth on the second of the BeerMonster Ducatis, moving ahead of Lee Jackson on the Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki and Christian Iddon. The Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider had topped the morning session, but crashed out at Wilson during the afternoon, which ended his second session prematurely.

Just 0.994s covered the top eight riders with Danny Buchan and Josh Brookes completing the top ten after the opening sessions. Rookie Max Cook set a pace within the top twelve to qualifying directly for eBay Q2 tomorrow whilst Peter Hickman rounded out the riders progressing directly into tomorrow’s second eBay Qualifying session.

Tito Rabat was 14th on his first appearance with the McAMS Yamaha team as he lapped Snetterton for the first time today, whilst Franco Bourne made his Bennetts BSB debut in 24th place for Honda Racing UK.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Snetterton, combined Free Practice result:

1. Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m47.725s
2. Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati) +0.283s
3. Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team) +0.617s
4. Ryan Vickers (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) +0.773s
5. Kyle Ryde (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) +0.798s
6. Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati) +0.887s
7. Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki) +0.928s
8. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.994s
9. Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW Motorrad) +1.014s
10. Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) +1.176s
11. Max Cook (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki) +1.188s
12. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) +1.327s

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
“It’s been a really good Friday for us. I felt really good this morning, wasn’t too stressed and felt like we had a pretty good place to start from. We made some little tweaks this afternoon and immediately felt quite strong and the pace was coming to me relatively comfortably.

“This afternoon I managed to take a chunk out of the lap time, which was nice so I think we’re in a good place. I think the race tomorrow is going to be exciting. I know what I need to do in the race and we have been working on it today. At the minute I feel like we’re in a really good place and hopefully tomorrow morning we can make a few small little steps forward.

“We’re coming into a really good part of the season for us and we want to kick start the momentum here at Snetterton.”
For more info check out our dedicated British Superbikes News page

Or visit the official Bennetts British Superbike Championship website www.britishsuperbike.com