Danny Buchan set the pace during the second Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session at Oulton Park with the Rapid Fulfillment Kawasaki rider the only one to dip into the 1’34s bracket.
Buchan posted a time of 1’34.819s on just his sixth lap which gave him a near second advantage but although the gap dwindled as the session wore on, he still ended up topping the leaderboard by 0.455s.
Friday’s pace setter Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) jumped up from eighth to second in the closing moments whilst Bradley Ray (Synetiq BMW) was only fractions behind in third.
With good, sunny conditions throughout, Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) placed an eventual fourth, after running in second for much of the session and he led the Italian charge with Luke Mossey (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) splitting him and sixth placed Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati).
Silverstone double race victor Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) was another to improve in the final minutes, moving from 12th to seventh, which put him just ahead of Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing), another rider to set his time early on.
Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) found himself back in ninth, a second off Buchan’s pace, with Peter Hickman (Global Robots BMW) completing the top ten.
Jack Kennedy, having his first meeting on the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki, got pushed back to 11th as a result of Hickman’s final lap whilst team-mate Ryan Vickers was a faller at Old Hall.