Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Wilson topped the Motorpoint Supersport free practice timesheets today at a very wet Donington Park. In the first session earlier this morning Wilson was the quickest out on track with a 1’48.890, followed by Mar-Train Yamaha’s Glenn Irwin who was nearly a second off the pace of the Lincolnshire rider with his best lap of 1’49.706.
In the second free practice outing Samsung Honda’s Jason O’Halloran clocked his fastest time of 1’51.060 with six minutes of the session remaining, and out paced Wilson in the process. The Boston rider did dominate for most of the session, but while the Kawasaki rider was in the garage, O’Halloran went three tenths of a second quicker than Wilson’s best time of 1’51.943.
Oxford Tag Triumph’s Richard Cooper was consistently on the pace during the final free practice outing of the day and ended the afternoon third fastest with his best lap of 1’52.800, with Appleyard Macadam Doodson rider Graeme Gowland nearly a second behind in fourth fastest with a 1’53.603.
There were a few incidents out on the rain soaked circuit this afternoon. Tsingtao WKbikes Performance rider Sandra Stammova crashed out at the Old Hairpin, causing a red flag to come out after oil from her bike fell on the track. The rider was taken to the medical centre but after a check up by the medical staff she was declared OK. But that was not the only Tsingtao bike to hit the gravel. When the session restarted team-mate Stuart Voskamp crashed at Schwanz Curve with 30 seconds of the session remaining.
Seton Tuning Yamaha’s Danny Buchan fell on only his first lap at Starkeys Bridge, and Oxford Tag Triumph’s Scott Smart crashed in the same spot minutes later, but both rider’s came away uninjured.
There were some crashes in the first session, most notably Oxford TAG Triumph’s Shaun Winfield fell at Craner Curve just as the chequered flag appeared, and Gearlink Alastair Seeley crashed at Starkeys Bridge with twelve minutes remaining. The Northern Irish rider went to the medical centre with an elbow injury, and missed out on the second free practice session this afternoon after receiving treatment.
