Bennetts British Superbike form man Peter Hickman picked up at Snetterton where he left off at Cadwell, taking top spot in the opening session this lunchtime.
The FHO BMW man grabbed the bragging rights with his final lap of a 1’47.978 but had to fend off an equally-late charge from local boy Ryan Vickers on the RAF Reserves Kawasaki who ended 0.267s off the place.
Reigning Bennetts British Superbike king Josh Brookes had been in charge until the final minutes but he was edges off by countryman Jason O’Halloran who ended up third.
Brookes has six races to bag enough points to make it into the top eight and started well at Snetterton, finishing only 0.074s behind the McAMS Yamaha rider, who was confirmed as a title fighter at Cadwell Park.
Tarran Mackenzie was fifth fastest, making it both of the McAMS Yamahas in the top five, with Tommy Bridewell eased back into sixth place in the final ten minutes of the opening session.
Glenn Irwin held onto seventh place, ahead of the second VisionTrack Ducati of Christian Iddon, whilst Lee Jackson and Gino Rea completed the top ten.
Danny Buchan returned after sitting out Cadwell Park and he was 12th fastest on the SYNETIQ BMW, meanwhile Kyle Ryde was back on track with Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW, he ended the session in 21st.
