FHO BMW's Peter Hickman again claimed top honours in the second Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session at Snetterton on Friday afternoon, the morning pace setter getting the better of fellow BMW rider Danny Buchan by 0.059s.
The flurry of action began as soon as the 40-minute session got underway as Gino Rea (Buildbase Suzuki) and Dan Linfoot (TAG Honda) bettered their times from the morning on their first flying lap to move into the top ten but they were quickly upstaged by Buchan who jumped up to third.
He didn’t stay there long though as Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) got to within a tenth of Hickman’s morning time to move from eighth overall to sixth. The FS-3 Racing Kawasaki pairing of Lee Jackson and Rory Skinner were also on the move to put themselves into the top ten, Linfoot being knocked out of the top 12 as a result.
Irwin then went quickest with a lap of 1’47.591 giving him a healthy 0.387s advantage over Hickman. Skinner was also lapping quickly, going from tenth to fifth although he didn’t’ stay there long as Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) moved back into fifth.
The times were getting quicker all the time and Jason O’Halloran was the next to improve upon his morning time, the McAMS Yamaha rider jumping up from seventh to third and within half a second of Irwin’s provisional pole time.
No sooner had he done that then he was back down to fourth as Tommy Bridewell leapt from tenth to second with a 1’47.800. Hickman responded with a 1’47.793 to climb back into second whilst Buchan’s strong session continued as he slotted into fourth.
Mid-way through the session, Brookes’ resurgence continued as he put in 1’47.536 to dispose of Irwin at the top of the leaderboard albeit by the slender margin of 0.055s.
However, next time around he went quicker still with a 1’47.406 and then again at 1’47.532 to extend the margin to 0.239s. Team-mate Christian Iddon was back in 12th though with twenty minutes remaining and on the bubble for the top 12 Superpicks who would go straight through to Q2.
Indeed, he was knocked out of the top 12 by Bradley Ray with 15 minutes to go and whilst the top six held station – Brookes, Irwin, Hickman, Bridewell, Tarran Mackenzie and Buchan – Jackson did improve once more, going from 12th to eighth. Ray’s progression then continued to as he got to within three tenths of Brookes’ pace-setting time and that put him up to third with ten minutes to go.
However, with just four minutes to go O’Halloran relegated him to fourth as he went from eighth to second with a 1’47.390 which got him to within 0.038s of Brookes. Skinner and Rea were also late improvers to climb into the top six but they were all upstaged by Jackson who lapped just 0.003s slower than Brookes.
Just when it looked like the leaderboard had settled down, two flying laps right on the chequered flag came from Hickman and Buchan and the BMW riders went first and second quickest with Brookes pushed down to third although he’ll be happy with his session after posting a number of laps in the mid-47’s.
Jackson, O’Halloran and Irwin completed fourth to six with Skinner, Ray, Rea, Bridewell, Mackenzie and Andrew Irwin completing the top 12.
They'll go straight into Q2 tomorrow but there was disappointment for local ace Ryan Vickers and Iddon who ended the session in 13th and 14th respectively and will have to progress from Q1. Vickers failed to improve upon his morning time, when he placed second, as he continues to suffer with the knee injury sustained in qualifying at Cadwell Park.
