Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes was the fastest rider out on the Oulton Park track for the final MCE British Superbike free practice session of the day, with a 1’36.140.
Lowes set his quickest lap on only his tenth time around the circuit, and even a last lap dash from Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne could not topple the Derby lad from the top of the timesheets.
Byrne was the quickest rider in the morning’s session, but could only manage a time of 1’36.167, two hundredths of a second slower than Lowes. Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison clocked the third quickest time, five tenths of a second slower than Byrne with a 1’36.690.
These were the only three riders who lapped in the 1’36’s all afternoon. Fourth quickest Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes improved on his time from the earlier session to clock a 1’37.016. Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland was third fastest with 25 minutes of the session remaining, but fell back to fifth overall by the time the chequered flag appeared, and could not go faster than his best lap of 1’37.025.
Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was nearly a second slower than his team-mate and had to contend with a time outside the top five, and ended the free practice session in sixth, closely followed by Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen. Halsall Racing’s new boy, Tommy Bridewell pushed his way into the top ten fastest times, with GBmoto’s Dan Linfoot rounding off the top ten with a 1’37.67.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Barry Burrell had his first outing of the day with his new team, and finished the session in a respectable seventeenth with a 1’38.821 lap. Doodson Motorsport’s Robbin Harms was not in the starting line up for the weekend’s racing as he is still recovering from a broken wrist.
The session was red flagged after ten minutes when Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Keith Farmer crashed at Cascades on only his third lap, but the rider was unhurt.
