Jason O'Halloran led the pack in the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session at Oulton Park this morning, holding a 0.055s advantage over Danny Buchan at the chequered flag.
O’Halloran was straight down to business in the final session ahead of SUPERPICKS Qualifying, setting the early pace from FHO Racing BMW’s Peter Hickman and teammate Tarran Mackenzie.
Buchan though was climbing the order and was soon into second position as Tommy Bridewell and Lee Jackson moved into the top five.
As the final five minutes of the session approached, O’Halloran still had the edge over Bridewell, who set the pace yesterday for Oxford Products Racing Ducati, and Buchan. However the SYNETIQ BMW rider managed to edge into second in the closing moments of the session.
Hickman held fourth position ahead of the leading VisionTrack Ducati of Christian Iddon as Mackenzie completed the top six riders.
Bradley Ray had another strong showing for the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW team in seventh place ahead of Lee Jackson for FS-3 Kawasaki and Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin.
Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki’s Josh Owens had another impressive showing to complete the top ten, nudging rookie Rory Skinner into eleventh place.
Meanwhile defending champion Josh Brookes ended the final free practice session in 17th position, 0.013s adrift of Andrew Irwin.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Free Practice 3 result:
1. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m:34.614s
2. Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.055s
3. Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.365s
4. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) +0.571s
5. Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.574s
6. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.582s
7. Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.966s
8. Lee Jackson (FS-3 Kawasaki) +0.992s
9. Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +1.072s
10. Josh Owens (Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki) +1.205s