Tyco BMW's Christian Iddon lived up to his 'Showdown spoiler' credentials, during the second MCE British Superbike free practice session in Assen.
Not only did he topple title challengers, Be Wiser Ducati's Shane Byrne and JG Speedfit Kawasaki's Leon Haslam from the top of the timesheets, he set the fastest lap of the day so far on his S1000RR, with a 1'36.752.
Iddon went two tenths under lap record pace at the TT track and was 0.098 seconds faster than Byrne. But Showdown rivals Haslam and Byrne were nearly exactly the same on race pace, with the current championship leader going a fraction quicker at the flag - 0.012s to be exact, over Haslam.
All the Showdown riders made it into the top ten, with Honda Racing's Jason O'Halloran slightly off the pace of the other five. His team-mate, Dan Linfoot could not emulate his earlier timesheet topping speeds and ended the day eighth, with Cooper close behind.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki's Luke Mossey put down a 1'26.959 to go fourth fastest and was only one of four riders to lap inside the 1'26's. Smiths Racing's Jakub Smrz is no stranger to the Dutch track, and his experience proved invaluable today.
The Czech Republic based racer made it all the way inside the top five, with returning ePayMe Yamaha rider, Broc Parkes making his way to P6, just ahead of title fighter, James Ellison.
After fifteen minutes of being out on the Dutch circuit, drops of rain started to fall in sector two and three, then the rain started to fall in all parts of the TT track, and with that everybody headed back to the pits.
Before the rain started to fall it was Haslam who set the pace with a 1'36.862. But the rain shower soon passed, and riders started to make their way out of their garages.
The red flags were brought out eight minutes into the session after John Hopkins experienced a technical problem with the ePayMe Yamaha. But before that the black and orange flags indicated
that there might be an issue with the American's R1.
Meanwhile Bridewell fell at Haarbocht, but was declared OK at the trackside, and after the re-start made it back on track. The session was stopped as the marshals checked for surface contamination.
When the chequered flag did eventually appear Riders Cup hopefuls; Bridewell, Hopkins, Hickman, Laverty and Irwin completed the top fifteen.
Tyco BMW's Ian Hutchinson has changed bikes for this weekend, and is competing in BSB, rather than his usual Pirelli National Superstock 1000 class. The road racing star ended FP2 in 27th.
Returning to the BSB series is Italian rider, Alex Polita. He is on the Moto Rapido backed Panigale and finished Friday's track festivities in 23rd on the sheets.
