Jason O'Halloran left it until the closing minutes of the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship Free Practice session at Silverstone to topple Josh Brookes from the top of the times, with SUPERPICKS Qualifying and BikeSocial Race 1 coming up this afternoon.
After mixed conditions yesterday, the dry session proved to be a frantic affair with the positions changing constantly at the top of the times. Initially Peter Hickman, Glenn Irwin and Gino Rea had spells where they led the opposition, but then Tommy Bridewell moved ahead by just 0.006s.
The session was briefly red flagged when Sam Cox crashed at Luffield, and when Free Practice resumed, Brookes went to the top of the times with eight minutes remaining on the clock for VisionTrack Ducati.
Bridewell then set a lap that put him 0.152s ahead of the defending champion, before O’Halloran upped the pace again to move fastest in the closing two minutes, running under the lap record.
Brookes’ final lap moved him back up ahead of Bridewell by 0.003s, with Kyle Ryde having another strong performance on the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW in fourth place whilst Tarran Mackenzie completed the top five.
Glenn Irwin was sixth fastest for Honda Racing ahead of fellow Title Fighter contender Ryan Vickers with Gino Rea, Danny Buchan and Peter Hickman completing the top ten.
Other riders pushing for a place in the Showdown include Lee Jackson in 14th, Andrew Irwin in 16th, with Rory Skinner and Bradley Ray in 17th and 18th respectively.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, Free Practice 3:
1. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 53.205s
2. Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.235s
3. Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.238s
4. Kyle Ryde (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +0.464s
5. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.469s
6. Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.486s
7. Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) +0.495s
8. Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.539s
9. Danny Buchan (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.546s
10. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) +0.608s
For the full result please click here