Danny Buchan topped the Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice times in the third session of the weekend, claiming the leading position in the closing moments ahead of this afternoon’s SUPERPICKS Qualifying and BikeSocial Race 1.
Tarran Mackenzie had initially been one of the first riders to sit at the top of the times, but soon Josh Brookes had edged the VisionTrack Ducati ahead with ten minutes of the session remaining.
As the lap times tumbled during the session, the McAMS Yamaha pairing had moved into the leading two positions with Mackenzie reclaiming the top position from championship leader Jason O'Halloran, whilst Bradley Ray had also moved up the order into third.
Mackenzie returned to pitlane, but O’Halloran was still firing in the laps and he moved ahead of his teammate with five minutes remaining.
However, it was going to be the SYNETIQ BMW team who topped the final practice session as Buchan’s last run gave him the edge by 0.167s over O’Halloran as Brookes surged into third.
Andrew Irwin was another rider who improved in the closing stages, moving into fourth ahead of Tarran Mackenzie, who held off Ryan Vickers to complete the top five.
Ray ended the session in seventh with the final improvements from his rivals with Tommy Bridewell, Gino Rea and yesterday’s pace-setter Peter Hickman completing the top ten ahead of SUPERPICKS Qualifying.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Snetterton, Free Practice 3 result:
1. Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) 1m:47.477s
2. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +0.167s
3. Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.171s
4. Andrew Irwin (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.250s
5. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.426s
6. Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) +0.624s
7. Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.724s
8. Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +1.006s
9. Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) +1.168s
10. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) +1.205s
For the full result please click here