O’Halloran sets personal best lap of Cadwell Park to top Free Practice

Jason O’Halloran continued his momentum from the previous round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship by topping the combined Free Practice times at Cadwell Park with the dry morning session setting the order after a damp afternoon.

The McAMS Yamaha rider took the treble win at Thruxton and he continued to lead his rivals by setting his personal best lap of the Lincolnshire circuit in the opening session. The Australian and LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha rival Kyle Ryde lapped under the existing lap race record, with 0.097s between them at the top of the times.

LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha had both riders inside the top three with Ryan Vickers having another strong start to the weekend, holding off Storm Stacey on the Starline Racing Kawasaki and Glenn Irwin completing the top five for the BeerMonster Ducati team.

Josh Brookes was the leading FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team rider in sixth place as he moved ahead of Lee Jackson on the Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki and Christian Iddon who completed the top eight for Oxford Products Racing Ducati.

Charlie Nesbitt and Peter Hickman completed the top ten with Leon Haslam and championship leader Tommy Bridewell the riders progressing into tomorrow’s Omologato Superpole starting list.

Brookes topped the damp afternoon session for the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team in the final minutes ahead of Irwin and Bridewell with Nesbitt and Jackson completing the top five. However, the dry session this morning determined the top 12 riders progressing directly into tomorrow’s Omologato Superpole.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, combined Free Practice times:

1. Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m:25.667s
2. Kyle Ryde (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) +0.097s
3. Ryan Vickers (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) +0.527s
4. Storm Stacey (Starline Racing Kawasaki) +0.582s
5. Glenn Irwin (BeerMonster Ducati) +0.767s
6. Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team) +0.783s
7. Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki) +0.829s
8. Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.928s
9. Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing) +1.065s
10. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team) +1.083s
11. Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad) +1.171s
12. Tommy Bridewell (BeerMonster Ducati) +1.294s

Jason O’Halloran
McAMS Yamaha
“It’s been a really good first day. It was nice to have the test evening last night, that meant we started in a pretty good place today and knew the area we needed to improve.

“I felt comfortable from the opening laps of free practice so we worked through our session plan and I ended up fastest which was nice. More importantly I had a very good feeling on the bike!

“That was my fastest ever lap here and not too far off what Brad [Ray] did in Superpole last year but it didn’t feel that fast and I surprised myself when I saw it come up on the dash. So that makes it even better.

“Tomorrow we have the Superpole format for qualifying which is a bit different but I tested my one lap pace today and that’s when we were able to do that lap time, so I’m looking forward to that and the Sprint race!”
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