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Oulton BSB: O'Halloran takes control in first practice

Jason O’Halloran shot to the top of the timesheets in the closing seconds of the first Bennetts British Superbike free practice session at Oulton Park.

The Honda Racing rider edged out defending champ Shane Byrne by 0.008s just moments before the chequered flag fell at the end of this morning’s opening session.

As the series landed at the Cheshire track for the third round, the weather had finally got its act together and the riders were greeted with blue skies, bright sunshine and track temperatures of around 30 degrees as the session began.

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The times quickly dropped through the 1’36’s, and Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon was the first to break the 1’35s just eight minutes in.

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam hit the top seconds later, but was deposed a few minutes later by Glenn Irwin, who in turn lost out to his Be Wiser Ducati team-mate Shane Byrne, who set a 1’35.038 on his 11th lap.

The next 30 minutes were relatively uneventful, with very little changing at the top. O’Halloran was looking quick, and moved up to second place with just over a minute to go, and was able to grab one more fast lap.

And he made it count, as he crossed the line with a 1’35.030, a time which couldn’t be challenged by anyone else as they finished their final laps.

Byrne held onto second as Buildbase Suzuki’s Richard Cooper stuck in a 1’35.155 to grab third, ahead of Haslam in fourth as the Smiths Racing BMW of Peter Hickman hung onto fifth.

Josh Brookes ended the session sixth aboard the McAMS Yamaha, as Irwin could only manage seventh, with Movuno.com Halsall Racing’s Tommy Bridewell eighth, Iddon ninth and the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki of Jake Dixon rounding out the top 10.

Ryuichi Kiyonari – standing in for the injured Dan Linfoot - spent the session getting used to his Honda Racing Fireblade, and was unable to climb any higher than 24th.

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