Tommy Bridewell gave the Moto Rapido Ducati squad morning bragging rights after topping the timesheets in the final Bennetts British Superbike free practice session at Oulton Park.
The Devizes man, who had looked strong in yesterday’s wet and dry sessions, edged out the rest as today brought sunshine and a dry track.
As the session got underway, it was championship leader Leon Haslam who went top first, quickly followed by Buildbase Suzuki’s Richard Cooper, Jake Dixon and Haslam’s JG Speedfit Kawasaki team-mate Luke Mossey who all took their turn at the top as the times quickly dropped into the 1’35s.
Bridewell edged up to second place with his fourth lap and then went even better on his fifth, moving to the top of the pile with a 1’35.482, only to be deposed by the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki of Dixon seconds later.
Mossey then hit the top again with the first 1’34 lap with a 1’34.994 as most of the pack headed back to their boxes for several minutes, and as they began to emerge, it was the Smith’s Racing BMW of Peter Hickman which was on the move as he crept up to second.
Danny Buchan, who had been up at the front yesterday on his FS-3 Racing Kawasaki was also on a charge, moving ahead of Hickman as Mossey’s lap kept him top for the next 20-minutes.
Buchan stayed out while many of his rivals were back in the pits, and on his 15th lap went top with a 1’34.920, which kept him on top until the last five minutes as Bridewell clocked 1’34.485 to put the Ducati on top.
Bradley Ray had also been making progress sneaking into third, but team-mate Cooper wasn’t finished, and set a 1’34.813 to go second.
However, he didn’t stay there long as Mossey also bettered his previous to move ahead and then Buchan found a tiny bit more on his final lap to end the session third.
Cooper finished fourth ahead of Dixon and Haslam as Josh Brookes set the seventh quickest lap aboard his McAMS Yamaha.
Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin finally found his way into the top 10 in the closing seconds as he moved up to eighth after a tough session, as Ray dropped to ninth and Hickman rounded out the top 10.
