Jason O’Halloran edged out Tommy Bridewell by less than four one-hundredths of a second to top the overall timesheets at today’s Oulton Park Bennetts British Superbike test.
The McAMS Yamaha man was half a second off the circuit lap record as he recorded a 1’34.581 to beat RAF Reserves Kawasaki’s Ryan Vickers, who was then also mugged by the Oxford Racing Ducati of Bridewell.
The opening two sessions had been topped by reigning champion Josh Brookes and Vickers, but the final 55-minute session of the day saw the times inevitably tumble in perfect conditions at the parkland circuit.
As fans returned to watch trackside for the first time since 2019, 577 days since the season finale at Brands Hatch, they were treated to a thrilling end to the day as several riders headed out for a time attack to end the test.
Brookes had held the advantage with 15 minutes to go, but O’Halloran had soon surged back ahead of his fellow compatriot as the Australian pair locked out the leading two positions. However, with six minutes remaining of the day Vickers had posted a time, which moved him back to the top, nudging McAMS Yamaha’s O’Halloran back into second place.
Peter Hickman was then on a sequence of flying laps and he moved into second position and just 0.196s adrift of Vickers’ leading time, however with three minutes remaining O’Halloran set a time which put him back into P1 as the final minutes ticked down.
Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Bridewell went into second position with just over a minute remaining of the day with Vickers moving back into third place, pushing Hickman into fourth at the chequered flag.
Brookes completed the top five for VisionTrack Ducati on his return to testing action after he missed the previous test at Snetterton following his crash at the Silverstone test. The defending champion moved back ahead of Gino Rea who led the Buildbase Suzuki charge in sixth. Glenn Irwin ended the day in seventh place for Honda Racing as six different manufacturers featured in the top seven positions.
Kyle Ryde ended the session in eighth place after a crash at Island ended his day prematurely despite a strong showing from the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW rider, who was second fastest in the opening two sessions.
Bradley Ray made his debut in 2021 on the second of the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMWs in ninth place on the combined times, just 0.005s ahead of SYNETIQ BMW rival Danny Buchan, who completed the top ten.
