Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon once again topped the MCE British Superbike free practice timesheets at Donington Park, with a time that was under lap record pace in dry conditions this afternoon. But it was Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey who was the fastest out of the title fighters and went P2 with a 1’29.196, compared to Iddon’s 1’29.053.
A resurgent John Hopkins placed his ePayMe backed Yamaha third on the timing-screens and when the chequered flag came out, his 1’29.252 meant he out-paced Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne, who went only 0.01s slower than the American.
Title fighter Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran crashed twice. First at Goddards, and he was fortunate enough to walk away from the incident The Australian was able to make it back out on to the track but then fell again in exactly the same place, making it three crashes today. But at the end of the outing he was fifth fastest after a 1’29.504.
Local lad, and current series leader, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam set a 1’29.621, which placed him seventh on the sheets, and was a tenth off the lap record. But the top five were all under Byrne’s circuit record at the track ,with Iddon only two tenths off the outright record, which is still held by Tommy Hill from 2011.
But the second outing was red flagged after a massive blow out by James Rispoli and the track had to be cleaned up with fifteen minutes remaining.
But a few seconds after the session got back underway the red flag came out once again, to clear extensive damage to run off area after a crash involving Honda Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth at the Foggy Esses. She was declared OK at the trackside. Smiths Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari also took a tumble when the chequered flag appeared.
At the end of the 45 minutes of track activity, Smiths Racing’s Jakub Smrz, Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin (who crashed at Redgate unhurt with four minutes remaining), Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty and JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison rounded off the top eleven fastest times.
There was no Jake Dixon taking part in the race weekend’s festivities as he is in hospital, recovering from injures sustained during the last round at Oulton Park. Tall Essex lad, Danny Buchan is also not at Donington Park after parting ways with his Tsingtao team.
