O’Halloran lights up Thruxton to lead Free Practice with top 16 covered by 0.884s

Jason O’Halloran maintained his position at the top of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship Free Practice times at Thruxton this afternoon, holding a slender 0.192s advantage over local hero Danny Kent in the closing stages of the second session.

O’Halloran had been the rider to set the pace this morning and the McAMS Yamaha rider carried the momentum into the afternoon to hold off the chasing pack as he bids to add to his winning tally, having won five of the last six races at the Hampshire circuit.

Kent fired himself into second place ahead of the home round for himself and the Lovell Kent Racing Honda Team with Luke Mossey having his strongest start to an event this year in third place for Tactix by Lloyd & Jones BMW.

Lee Jackson was fourth fastest for Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki as four different manufacturers locked out the leading four positions ahead of tomorrow’s eBay Qualifying and BikeSocial Sprint Race.

However, just 0.002s adrift was Charlie Nesbitt on the MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing who in turn was just 0.001s ahead of Jack Kennedy who completed the top six times for Mar-Train Racing Yamaha.

Christian Iddon surged into seventh in the final stages of Free Practice, as the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team bid for home round success after their podium finishes at Brands Hatch. They were narrowly ahead of the BeerMonster Ducati teammates with Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell in eighth and ninth places respectively.

Kyle Ryde completed the top ten for LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha, with teammate Ryan Vickers dropping just outside the 12 riders who will progress through to eBay Qualifying 2 tomorrow after a crash at Campbell which ended his session prematurely.

Peter Hickman for FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team and Danny Buchan on the SYNETIQ BMW completed the top 12 riders ahead of tomorrow’s opening race of the weekend.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Thruxton, Combined Free Practice result:

1. Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m:15.380s
2. Danny Kent (Lovell Kent Racing Honda) +0.192s
3. Luke Mossey (Tactix by Lloyd & Jones BMW) +0.353s
4. Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki) +0.416s
5. Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing) +0.418s
6. Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) +0.419s
7. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.436s
8. Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati) +0.530s
9. Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati) +0.549s
10. Kyle Ryde (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) +0.570s
11. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team) +0.581s
12. Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.604s

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
“I always love coming to Thruxton, it has been a special place for me in the past, I have won a lot races here in the last couple of years, so naturally I have a good feeling coming here. The Yamaha works really well here too, so it’s a good combination.

“Today was all about long distance runs on the tyres as it is a bit of a strange place here. You go as fast as you can for as long as you can, whereas here you try to manage the race – you’re trying to figure out what’s the best lap time you can do for the longest period that you can do it.

“We did two long runs this afternoon, so I think for tomorrow we’ve got a pretty good plan. Now we’re going to try and put it together and I’m sure tomorrow we will come up with a good package to be fast. It’ll be tight tomorrow, but we’ll see in the races who has done their homework.”

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