Former Bennetts British Superbike Champion Josh Brookes was welll under his own Oulton lap record in free practice two at Oulton Park to finish on top of the Friday practice timesheets.
The Be Wiser Ducati man upped his pace to a 1’34.075 which maintained his gap of half a second to FS-3 Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan in second place with Tommy Bridewell taking his Oxford Racing V4R to third, 0.619s off the pace.
The session was stopped twice for two crashes. The first involved Luke Stapleford and Hector Barbera art Hill Top and the second saw Billy McConnell off at Brittens. The latter two riders were taken to the medical centre for treatment. Barbera has gone to hospital for precautionary scans while McConnell, who is a stand-in rider for Josh Elliott at OMG Suzuki this weekend, has broken his collarbone.
Brookes' team-mate Scott Redding upped his game to a 1'35.010, an improvement of almost a second, but there will be some head scratching in the former MotoGP star's side of the garage over what to do about the nine-tenth deficit to Brookes.Christian Iddon was the fastest of the BMWs in fifth, taking his Tyco-backed S1000RR to a 1'35.566 with team-mate Glenn Irwin in sixth and 1.401 off the pace.
Bradley Ray continued his return to form in seventh place with Dan Linfoot putting in a charge to bag eighth place. Peter Hickman slipped back to ninth place but crucially still in front of Showdown rival Andrew Irwin, who ended tenth on his Honda.
Jason O'Halloran finished in 11th, one ahead of Ryan Vickers with Luke Mossey on the remaining OMG Suzuki in 13th place. James Ellison's MV is in 14th with Tarran Mackenie struggling in 15th.
BSB newboy Alex Olsen finished a respectable 17th behind Luke Stapleford with Showdown contender Xavi Fores in a lowly 18th place, nearly three seconds off the pace.
