Home hero Rory Skinner looked set to top his first session in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill this morning, holding the leading positon in warm up at the chequered flag but Jason O'Halloran’s final lap edged him to the top of the times.
A frantic ten-minute session was led initially by Bradley Ray, as the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW rider set the initial benchmark ahead of BikeSocial race one winner, Christian Iddon.
Iddon then posted a lap that put the VisionTrack Ducati at the top of the times by just 0.040s ahead of O’Halloran and Skinner. The FS-3 Kawasaki rookie then moved ahead of the championship leader as the countdown reached three minutes remaining, putting himself an incredible 0.001s off Iddon’s leading time.
As the final minute of the session approached, TAG Honda’s Dan Linfoot had moved to the top of the times, just ahead of Kyle Ryde and Iddon, with O’Halloran dropping to twelfth as the times tumbled and the positions continued to change.
The final minute though saw Linfoot holding the top position until Skinner’s final lap put him in the leading position, before a last lap improvement out O’Halloran ahead again.
Andrew Irwin was another big improver in the final moments as he went from 14th to third to lead the SYNETIQ BMW charge ahead of Linfoot and Ryde, who completed the top five.
Ryan Vickers was sixth on the RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki ahead of Tarran Mackenzie and Gino Rea. Iddon and Danny Kent completed the top ten ahead of today’s two races.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Knockhill, warm up result:
1. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 47.895s
2. Rory Skinner (FS-3 Kawasaki) +0.202s
3. Andrew Irwin (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.236s
4. Dan Linfoot (TAG Honda) +0.263s
5. Kyle Ryde (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.288s
6. Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki) +0.399s
7. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.421s
8. Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.439s
9. Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.441s
10. Danny Kent (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.492s