Glenn Irwin came into the BSB Oulton Park weekend off the back of the two-day test on the Wednesday and Thursday before the weekend in which he topped both days. Friday produced more of the same, as Irwin topped both sessions for PBM Ducati, but Kyle Ryde finally ended Irwin's dominance by taking pole position on Sunday afternoon.

Qualifying

Kyle Ryde claimed pole position for the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship race at Oulton Park scheduled for later this afternoon, the OMG Grilla Yamaha Racing rider lapping inside the lap record to edge out Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) by 0.202s with team-mate and championship leader Ryan Vickers taking third.

With warm, sunny conditions at the Cheshire venue, Josh Brookes (FHO Racing BMW Motorrad) and the MasterMac Honda duo of Charlie Nesbitt and Lee Jackson were the three riders to progress from Q1, Brookes topping the timesheets with a lap of 1’34.489. The Honda Racing pairing of Dean Harrison and Andrew Irwin and DAO Racing Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan were amongst those to miss out.

Brookes, Jackson and Nesbitt joined the 12 riders already through to the all-important Q2 session, on the back of their free practice performances on Saturday, but the session was less than three minutes old when it was red flagged after Brookes’ team-mate Peter Hickman crashed out on the approach to the Brittens chicane, fortunately without injury.

The session was soon re-started with 12 and a half minutes to go and Ryde immediately showed his hand with a superb lap of 1’33.411, the fastest lap of the weekend so far and two tenths of a second inside the lap record. Irwin slotted into seconds, 0.202s adrift, with Christian Iddon (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) in third ahead of Danny Kent (McAMS Racing Yamaha), Max Cook (Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki) and Brookes.

Vickers jumped up to fourth on his first flying lap with Cook’s team-mate Jason O’Halloran taking over sixth as Leon Haslam (ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad) got back out on track after experiencing technical issues at the beginning of the session. He found himself back in tenth whilst reigning champion Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing) was another to take to the track late and relegated Haslam to 11th.

Ryde was watching the action from the haven of his garage, but team-mate Vickers was charging again and, indeed, he moved up to third just 0.248s behind. O’Halloran was another rider to improve on his second flying lap and took over fourth, Iddon and Kent now in fifth and sixth.

A late lap by Kent saw him overhaul Iddon for fifth but other than that there were no changes in the top six with Rory Skinner (Cheshire Mouldings BMW by TAS Racing), Bridewell, Brookes and Cook completing the top ten.

Full BSB results from qualifying in Oulton Park are below.

FP2

Following in the theme of the week so far, Glenn Irwin remained fastest of all in BSB FP2 at Oulton Park, comfortably ahead of Tommy Bridewell.

The reigning champion was over 0.2 seconds adrift of Irwin at the end of Friday, after FP2 was red flagged after a crash for Louis Valleley at turn one.

Ryan Vickers was third-fastest and the best of the Yamaha riders - and by some distance. The next-best R1 rider was Danny Kent in seventh, over 0.3 seconds behind Vickers. The #7 was the only Yamaha rider under the 1:34 barrier, which was broken for the first time this week in FP2. The top six were all under 94 seconds, with Leon Haslam (1:33.896), Christian Iddon (1:33.935), and Jason O'Halloran (1:33.946) the last three riders to get into the '33s.

Behind Kent in seventh was Storm Stacey, who had his best session of the year so far in eighth, ahead of Rory Skinner - improved from this morning in ninth. Kyle Ryde was the slowest of the Yamaha trio that dominated in Navarra, finishing 10th in FP2.

Full BSB times from FP2 in Oulton Park are below.

FP1

In FP1, Glenn Irwin continued his impressive testing form, ending Saturday's first session as the fastest rider.

Irwin almost matched his best time from this week's test, a 1:34.050, in the first session, his 1:34.053 coming up just 0.003 seconds shy of that. It nonetheless put him over one-tenth-of-a-second ahead of Jason O'Halloran in second place.

It was a solid showing for the Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki rider, who was never able to challenge at the front at the more stop-start Circuito de Navarra.

The more flowing Oulton Park layout should also suit the Yamaha R1, in theory, but they don't appear to have the same kind of dominant pace at round a two as they had at the Spanish opener. All three were close though, with OMG's current points leader the fastest of the trio in third place, ahead of his teammate Kyle Ryde in fourth, while Danny Kent rounded out the top five which was covered by under 0.3 seconds.

Leon Haslam was the fastest BMW in sixth, ahead of Tommy Bridewell - the fastest Honda in seventh, but encountering more technical issues en route.

Christian Iddon set the eighth-fastest time, ahead of Max Cook in ninth and Josh Brookes who rounded out the top 10.

Full BSB results from FP1 at Oulton Park are below.