Jason O’Halloran ended the second Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session quickest at a sunny Silverstone on Friday afternoon, the McAMS Yamaha rider just getting the better of Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW) by 0.040s. Kyle Ryde, quickest in the opening session, placed third on the LAMI OMG Racing Yamaha.

Ryde was the first to show his hand with a lap of 53.863s, going two tenths quicker next time around and it was he and Andrew Irwin who made the early running with O’Halloran in third, the latter two immediately quicker than the time they’d set in the opening session earlier in the day.

However, the session was only five minutes old when the red flag came out after Irwin went down at Maggots, just as he’d set the quickest time through sector one. The Honda rider was uninjured but would miss the remainder of the session.

When the session resumed, brother Glenn was an early mover gaining three places on the BeerMonster Ducati to go sixth quickest overall behind Ryde, Andrew Irwin, O’Halloran, Tommy Bridewell and Haslam.

Charlie Nesbitt, a faller earlier in the afternoon, was black flagged with smoke coming from his MasterMac by Hawk Racing Honda whilst on track Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW) crept into the top ten, two places behind team-mate Peter Hickman with the impressive Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) sandwiched in between.

The Aussie then leapt to the top of the timesheets with a 53.523s, which put him 0.022s ahead of Ryde but it remained tight with less than a tenth of a second covering the top four and only two tenths covering the top eight.

At the halfway point of the 40-minute session, Brookes continued to lead the way, but it quickly changed with Haslam’s lap of 53.283s sending him a healthy 0.240s quicker than his fellow BMW rider.

He wasn’t the only mover either and Christian Iddon, running at the lower end of the top twenty on the Oxford Products Ducati, jumped up 16 places to slot into second, which pushed Brookes back down to third. Ryde responded to move back into second and the top six now read Haslam, Ryde, Iddon, Brookes, Andrew Irwin and O’Halloran. Further back, Danny Kent moved into the top ten for the first time.

Kennedy was the next to make a significant impression and although the top six stayed the same, the Irishman was up to seventh with eight minutes remaining. At the same, Josh Owens (Crendon Honda by Hawk Racing) fell at Brooklands.

O’Halloran pushed Andrew Irwin down to sixth with four minutes to go but the Yamaha rider wasn’t done there and next time around, a lap of 53.243s sent him quickest, a slender 0.040s quicker than long time pace setter Haslam. Ryan Vickers was out of luck though, falling at Becketts.

Glenn Irwin pushed his brother down another spot in the final couple of minutes and with the red flag coming out in the dying moments, Liam Delves (Rapid CDH Kawasaki) having stopped in a dangerous position, there were to be no further changes in the top five with O’Halloran staying top from Haslam, Ryde, Brookes and Iddon.

Glenn Irwin ended sixth, one place ahead of team-mate Bridewell, with Danny Buchan, Andrew Irwin and Kennedy completing the top ten

2023 BSB | Silverstone | FP2 Results