Josh Brookes dominated this afternoon’s second Bennetts British Superbike free practice session as he was only one of 12 riders to hit the circuit in mixed conditions.
The McAMS Yamaha man clocked a time nearly three seconds faster than anyone else as early drizzle and water on circuit kept some riders behind garage doors for the entire 45-minute session.
The weather threw the second practice of the weekend a curve ball, as rain began to fall around an hour and a half before the Superbikes headed out, and a wet drizzle persisted which ran into the start of FP2.
As a result, some riders opted to sit the session stating that the mixed conditions were not useful, and this meant just a small handful began to trickle out of pit lane as the session got underway.
Josh Brookes, Gino Rea, James Ellison, Luke Hedger, Dean Harrison, Andrew Irwin and Mason Law were joined five minutes in by Shaun Winfield, with Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot joining the party shortly after.
But it certainly wasn’t a session for breaking records or even thinking about setting quick laps, as Josh Brookes stuck himself on the top of the times 10 minutes in with a 1’42.563s lap – almost 20 secs adrift of Glenn Irwin’s hot lap this morning.
The Aussie went a few tenths faster but then hit the pits as a quiet few minutes on track followed with some riders still unsure of conditions.
Be Wiser Ducati’s main man Glenn soon joined his brother on circuit and as the tarmac seemed to be drying, he stuck in a 1’41.107, while Linfoot followed him into the 1’41s just a few tenths further adrift.
Moments later, Team WD-40’s Mason Law pipped Linfoot for second before Dixon pushed Brookes back a further place to fourth.
It was all change in the closing seconds as Dixon went to the top with a 1’39.418, but he was shoved back by Irwin’s 1’39.266.
The Northern Irishman’s 1’39 didn’t last, however, as Brookes, who was back out on track donning slicks, clocked a 1’36.324 to go nearly three seconds quicker than Dixon and Irwin.
Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha’s James Ellison and Law rounded out the top five with the only other 1’39s, ahead of Linfoot, OMG Racing’s Gino Rea and Andrew Irwin.
Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad’s recent superbike recruit Luke Hedger and Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon rounded out the top 10, while Silicone Engineering’s Dean Harrison and Shaun Winfield were final riders of the total 12 to hit the track for FP2.
