Northern Ireland's Ian Lowry left it late to blast to the top of the timesheets with the fastest lap of the day at
Thruxton in FP2.
The Padgetts Honda rider lapped in a time of 1m15.841s to take the top spot, an average speed of 111.83mph, to squeeze out Josh Brookes on the Tyco TAS Suzuki, who was snapping at his heels with a lap of 1m15.858s.
WFR Honda's Alex Lowes surged up the order as he roared into third place on his last lap with a time of 1m15.866s as less than half a second covered the top ten.
Shane Byrne, who again led for much for the second free practice session, was demoted to fourth on the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, but is right on the pace with a time of 1m15.911s.
The top three were the only riders to break into the 1m15s bracket, with Tommy Hill in fifth place on the Swan Yamaha just 0.245s off Lowry's best lap with a time of 1m16.086s.
Lowry finished an excellent fourth at
Brands Hatch in the wet but has felt right at home on the Honda Fireblade since joining Clive Padgett's team for 2012.
And it shows as the former chef, top
BSB rookie in 2009, continues to post consistently fast laps on the CBR1000RR.
Lowry's fellow countryman, Michael Laverty, was sixth quickest on the Samsung Honda, 0.255s adrift of the best time, with Luca Scassa ultra-impressive on his
Thruxton debut on the second Padgetts Honda in seventh.
Laverty crashed at the chicane as he ended FP2 on a sour note.
James Westmoreland (WFR Honda) was eighth, with the top ten rounded out by Chris Walker and MSS Bathams Kawasaki's Michael Rutter.
Buildbase BMW's Dan Linfoot was 11th ahead of Brands race winner Jon Kirkham and Byrne's team-mate Stuart Easton.
Tyco TAS Suzuki's Alastair Seeley was over a second off the pace in 16th position, while Noriyuki Haga finished 20th.
Swan Yamaha's Haga, also making his
Thruxton debut, was three seconds off Byrne's top time in FP1, but closed the gap on Lowry's best time of the day to 1.6s in the second session.
FULL FP2 TIMES HERE