O’Halloran holds off Buchan to lead Oulton Park free practice
Jason O’Halloran topped the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session at Oulton Park, firing the McAMS Yamaha into the leading position by 0.825s to hold off Danny Buchan and the Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki team.
The opening session of the weekend got underway in perfect conditions in Cheshire ahead of tomorrow’s Datatag Qualifying session and Bennetts BSB race one, with O’Halloran stealing the early march on his rivals as he bids to become the eighth different race winner of the season tomorrow.
O’Halloran went to the top of the times in the closing minutes of the opening free practice, displacing Buchan from the top, as DB bids for his first podium finish of the season for the Team Green squad this weekend.
Championship leader Glenn Irwin jumped to third in the timings for Honda Racing, narrowly moving ahead of Silverstone race winner Kyle Ryde for the Buildbase Suzuki team. Luke Mossey completed the top five, featuring as many different manufacturers, for the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW team.
Lee Jackson held Christian Iddon at bay for sixth position at the end of free practice one, with the VisionTrack Ducati team rider ahead of Tommy Bridewell and teammate Josh Brookes as the trio of Ducatis were locked together on the timesheets.
Andrew Irwin completed the top ten for Honda Racing, just ahead of Jack Kennedy who made his debut with the RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki team.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Free Practice 1:
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) 1m:35.180s
- Danny Buchan (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) +0.825s
- Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.969s
- Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.975s
- Luke Mossey (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) +1.108s
- Lee Jackson (Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki) +1.170s
- Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +1.242s
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +1.269s
- Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) +1.430s
- Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) +1.529s
For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com
Jason O’Halloran
(McAMS Yamaha)
Fastest in free practice
“It was a good day for us and I love coming to Oulton Park. We usually have a test here before the race weekend so I was a bit nervous about today because to get going fast straight away is quite difficult here, but after the first exit, I felt comfortable.
“I did three exits in the session and just kept improving so we have a little bit of work to do tonight, just to work on a couple of key areas that we are losing a bit of time in, so still plenty of things to work on as I am sure the others will catch up tomorrow. It will be close at the front and I am well aware of that, so we won’t rest tonight and put our heads together, look through the good data from today, and see what we can come up with for tomorrow.
“We had a strong weekend at Silverstone and I want to be back at the front fighting for the positions. You can never call BSB, as there are so many guys who could turn up on race day and do well, so as long as we are there fighting. Ultimate we want to be on the podium and it would be nice to take that win, so we will see what we can do.”
