After that Jason O’Halloran ranked first in FP1, in FP2 we saw even 13 riders in just one second and both surprises and confirmations. Moreover, the session was red flagged twice and finally it was definitely stopped with 5 minutes to go, to be recovered in FP3. The rider who finally ranked first is Shane Byrne, since he performed a very fast lap in 1’34″868 on his #67 PBM Ducati Panigale R, a laptime that’s already very close to the circuit race record lap, set in 2015 by Josh Brookes (1’34″483). Byrne leads the classification right in front of Brookes, finally competitive on his McAMS Yamaha after his worst start of the season since 2011.
After finding the speed again at the pre-event tests, where he approved the (obligatory) switch to 2018 Pirelli tyres (both SC1 and SC0), Brookes ranked second with just 115 milliseconds off Byrne, who remains in any case the main favourite for the win of both races in this “May Day Bank Holiday” (races scheduled on Monday 7th at 13:30 and 16:30 local time). It feels like we’re seeing once again the fight we saw many times in the past, since Byrne and Brookes are followed by Leon Haslam. Pocket Rocket ranked fourth on his JG Speedfir Bournemouth Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, followed by Jake Dixon (Lee Hardy Racing Kawasaki) and Taylor Mackenzie, fifth on his Moto Rapido Ducati Panigale R. T-Mac had never been so fast in the two previous rounds, where he struggled in his first races as replacement rider for John Hopkins.
After a tough FP1, the championship leader Bradley Ray was sixth, Peter Hickman 10th and Jason O’Halloran, who was the fastest in FP1, 12th. What caused the session to be red flagged was the crashes of Christian Iddon (taken to Medical Centre) and Mason Law (OK after falling at Brittens). 23th place for Ryuichi Kiyonari, back to Honda Racing UK to replace injured Dan Linfoot.
2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2018
Oulton Park
FP2 Classification
01- Shane Byrne – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R – 1’34.868
02- Josh Brookes – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 0.115
03- Leon Haslam – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.226
04- Jake Dixon – RAF Regular & Reserves – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.410
05- Taylor Mackenzie – Moto Rapido Ducati – Ducati Panigale R – + 0.455
06- Bradley Ray – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.461
07- Glenn Irwin – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R – + 0.540
08- Luke Mossey – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.659
09- Danny Buchan – FS-3 Racing Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.737
10- Peter Hickman – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR – + 0.748
11- Richard Cooper – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.828
12- Jason O’Halloran – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.934
13- Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 1.000
14- Tommy Bridewell – Movuno.com Halsall – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.083
15- Michael Laverty – Tyco BMW Motorrad – BMW S1000RR – + 1.083
16- James Ellison – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 1.199
17- Gino Rea – OMG Racing UK LTD – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.201
18- Martin Jessopp – RidersMotorcycles.com BMW – BMW S1000RR – + 1.452
19- Christian Iddon – Tyco BMW Motorrad – BMW S1000RR – + 1.511
20- Mason Law – Team WD-40 – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 1.575
21- Jakub Smrz – Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad – BMW S1000RR – + 1.595
22- Kyle Ryde – CF Motorsport Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 2.070
23- Ryuichi Kiyonari – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 2.267
24- Dean Harrison – Silicone Engineering – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 2.518
25- Sylvain Barrier – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR – + 2.733
26- David Johnson – Gulf BMW – BMW S1000RR – + 3.579
27- Carl Phillips – Gearlink Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 3.906
28- Connor Cummins – Padgetts Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 4.482
29- Shaun Winfield – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 4.663