McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran topped the opening Bennetts British Superbike free practice at Brands Hatch this afternoon, fending off late charges from Bradley Ray and title contender Glenn Irwin.
But it wasn’t such good news for his team-mate Tarran Mackenzie who launched his R1 into the trees at Stirlings with marshals doing their best David Attenborough to try and find it (see below)
O’Halloran set a 1’26.113 to lead Synetiq BMW’s Ray by 0.076 with Glenn Irwin, on the 2021 Honda Fireblade, clocking a 1’26.282 with his final effort.
Luke Mossey pulled a lap out nowhere on the Rich BMW to steal fourth place from championship leader Josh Brookes. The VisionTrack Ducati rider is four-tenths off the pace but just ahead of team-mate Christian Iddon.
Andrew Irwin, on the sister Fireblade to his brother, ended in seventh with Tommy Bridewell one place further back and three-quarters-of-a-second in arrears.
Former MotoGP man Hector Barbera took ninth with Danny Buchan rounding out the top ten.
