Jason O’Halloran headed a heated afternoon Bennetts British Superbike practice at Brands Hatch with a 1’25.229 lap around the GP circuit on Friday.
The McAMS Yamaha rider held off efforts from VisionTrack Ducati’s Christian Iddon and Josh Brookes with Lee Jackson claiming fourth after a late charge.
Championship leader Tarran Mackenzie was in the driving seat as FP2 got underway. 1’25.485 the fastest time of the weekend so far, as the 25-year-old fended off his R1 teammate O’Halloran, 0.065s back.
Just four-tenths of a second separated the entirety of the top 10 after 20 minutes of afternoon action as Tommy Bridewell and Josh Brookes sat best of the rest with the third Ducati of Christian Iddon circulating seventh.
Morning Hero Peter Hickman had yet to improve on his FP1 time as the session neared the final 10 minutes, the FHO rider sitting sixth, behind Lee Jackson, with Gino Rea, Danny Buchan and Andrew Irwin rounding out the combined top 10. Rory Skinner and Bradley Ray, so far in charge of the final Superpicks 12 promotion places with Glenn Irwin two-tenths adrift.
Five minutes to go saw the pace increase as Iddon took charge with a 1’25.332 before being immediately bettered by O’Halloran. Brookes sat third ahead of Mackenzie and the advancing pair of Rea and Ray with Honda’s Irwin joining the attack in seventh. FS-3’s Jackson the next to strike, as he found fourth with less than three minutes on the clock.
Late charges pushed Hickman and Buchan to fifth and seventh respectively, Skinner and Irwin demoted out of the top 12 with one shot remaining but with the chequered flag flying Joe Francis claimed the final promotion place.
