JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam left it until his penultimate lap in the final session to set the fastest time of the day, during the official MCE British Superbike test at Oulton Park today.
After an absence of eight years from the Cheshire circuit, the former World Superbike rider lapped a 1’35.025, and was only six tenths off lap record pace. Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon had been up the sharp end throughout all three outings, and ended the day P2 on the combined timesheets with a 1’35.175, only 0.1s off the best time of the ZX-10R.
Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot completed the top three times, and steadily improved his pace to get into the 1’35’s, and a 1’35.226 on his Fireblade was enough to go third fastest.
Initially with 30 minutes remaining it was Iddon who was the quickest rider out on track, with a 1’35.545. But that was only to last ten minutes, as his team-mate Michael Laverty put down a 1’35.365 to go P1 on the testing sheets. The Northern Irishman was unable to better his time as he got caught up in traffic on the track, and as others went quicker he dropped back to fourth overall.
JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison finished the day inside the top five, followed by Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey, Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran, Buildbase BMW’s Lee Jackson, with Hickman and Cooper rounding up the top ten.
The final test session was red flagged on the eighteen minute mark, as ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins crashed unhurt at Shell, whilst he was sixteenth fastest overall, but when the session was restarted the American fell back down to eighteenth. His team-mate, Stuart Easton bettered his earlier morning time to go P16 in the last outing. Bennetts Suzuki’s Ryuichi Kiyonari and Tommy Bridewell ended the Friday session in eleventh and twelfth respectively.
There were some teams who did not participate in proceedings today, and that included Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne and Glenn Irwin. Moto Rapido Ducati’s Danny Buchan was also not in attendance due to the Panigale being too loud for the test day at the Cheshire circuit. Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha’s Shaun Winfield and James Rispoli were also not on track today, neither was Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy.
In the opening session it was Laverty who set the pace with a 1’36.324, but he ended the session in the gravel after he crashed unhurt at Lodge. The red flags then came out five minutes before the end and the session was never restarted. In the second session in warmer conditions it was Mossey who was the quickest rider out on track, going nearly one second faster than the top times set in the morning session, with a 1’35.704. The Cambridgeshire rider was followed by Hickman and Iddon on the timing screens.