BeerMonster Ducati’s Glenn Irwin topped the third and final British Superbike Championship practice session at Knockhill on Saturday morning as he set the quickest time of the weekend so far around the 1.269-mile venue.

A lap of 47.523s put him 0.048s ahead of the impressive Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda by Hawk Racing) with Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad) in third as just three quarters of a second covered the top ten.

With overcast skies, Lee Jackson (Cheshire Mouldings Kawasaki) was the first to dip into the 47’s with a lap of 47.913s, and he led in the early stages from Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW), Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW), Irwin, Haslam and Jackson’s team-mate Max Cook before Irwin took over at the top of the leaderboard with five minutes of the session gone.

Six riders were now in the 47’s as Irwin led Jackson, Buchan, Nesbitt, Haslam and Tommy Bridewell on the second BeerMonster Ducati but the short nature of the track meant positions were changing regularly and Buchan and Friday’s pace setter Kyle Ryde (LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha) were soon running in first and second.

Halfway though the session and it was Haslam’s turn to go quickest at 47.661s, which gave him a slender 0.055s advantage over Buchan with Ryde’s team-mate Ryan Vickers slotting in behind him in fourth. Vickers wasn’t done there either as his next lap saw him go second quickest, two tenths of a second quicker than what he’d managed on Friday.

Danny Kent was another rider having a better day and, down in 22^nd on Friday, he was lapping more than half a second quicker on his Honda as he jumped up to fifth with eight minutes of the twenty-minute session remaining.

The order was now Haslam, Vickers, Buchan, Ryde, Kent and Nesbitt and with five minutes to go, Irwin moved back up to fifth with less than a tenth of a second covering the top five. That quickly became seven riders as Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) and Kent improved their times.

With a minute to go, Nesbitt went quickest with a lap of 47.571s but seconds later Irwin relegated him down a spot as he took over at the top of the leaderboard and that’s how it stayed with Haslam, O’Halloran, Vickers and Buchan completed the top six. They were followed by Jackson, Kent and Storm Stacey (Starline Racing Kawasaki) with Ryde ending up tenth.

BSB Knockhill | Practice 3 Results