Josh Brookes picked up where he left off at Brands Hatch as he blasted into the lead of this morning’s first Bennetts British Superbike practice at Knockhill.
Fresh off a clean sweep in Kent, the Be Wiser Ducati rider pipped FS-3 Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan by a mere 0.014s as he took control of the early action in Scotland.
Andrew Irwin was quickest out of the gates as he led Honda Racing compatriot Xavi Fores, but it was last year’s double podium finisher Buchan who beat the Northern Irishman to the top spot on just his second flying lap with the first 48s time of the session.
Two other team-mates, PBM riders Brookes and Redding, were just a tenth off the top spots but less than five minutes in it was Santander Salt TAG Racing’s Dan Linfoot, fresh off a rostrum finish at Brands, who shot into the lead.
But moments later, Mackenzie dropped the mark even further as he powered up to first with Brookes in tow while Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon went third quickest.
Just as Redding looked to be having a sniff at the top spot, Buchan deposed him before Brookes knocked the former GP man back to third as the Aussie went a mere 0.008s slower than Buchan.
But 2015 champ Brookes was quickly back in control with a 48.001, holding on for the rest of the session despite advances from the FS-3 Kawaski rider, who ended just 0.014s further back.
McAMS Yamaha’s Mackenzie ended just 0.059s back on Buchan in third with just a few hundredths to spare ahead of late flyer Linfoot and Redding, while Iddon finished the session in sixth.
Luke Mossey went seventh quickest for OMG Racing ahead of Buildbase Suzuki’s top man Bradley Ray, while Smith’s BMW’s Peter Hickman and Quattro Plant’s Glenn Irwin completed the top 10.
Late in the session, Jason O’Hallloran went down at turn three just moments before Team WD-40 Kawasaki’s Claudio Corti hit the deck at turn seven.
