Irwin takes clean sweep of times at Oulton Park test
Glenn Irwin has stormed the times at the Oulton Park in-season Bennetts British Superbike championship test for Be Wiser Ducati by topping all three sessions.
The Northern Irish kick-started his BSB Showdown target by taking second place in the wet race two at Brands Hatch Indy last time out behind Leon Haslam and produced untouchable pace at the Cheshire track to top every session of the in-season one-day test.
Glenn Irwin has stormed the times at the Oulton Park in-season Bennetts British Superbike championship test for Be Wiser Ducati by topping all three sessions.
The Northern Irish kick-started his BSB Showdown target by taking second place in the wet race two at Brands Hatch Indy last time out behind Leon Haslam and produced untouchable pace at the Cheshire track to top every session of the in-season one-day test.
Irwin’s late flyer of 1m 34.223s saw him displace Haslam late on for top spot in the final session by over a quarter of a second in preparation for the third round of the 2018 BSB season set to be held at the same circuit next weekend.
With JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Haslam in second on the overall times, defending BSB champion Byrne had to settle for third place but over three-tenths up on Josh Brookes who found impressive lap time gains after a pair of frustrating rounds at Donington Park and Brands Hatch Indy for McAMS Yamaha.
Brookes did suffer an engine issue midway through the first session, which required a complete engine change, but held on to take fourth place on the timesheet ahead of RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki’s Jake Dixon.
Buildbase Suzuki’s Richard Cooper produced impressive late gains to jump to sixth place in the final sessions ahead of Smith Racing BMW’s Peter Hickman to see five different manufacturers represented in the top seven.
Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon claimed eighth place in the final session to shuffle down early BSB championship leader Bradley Ray for Buildbase Suzuki as PR Racing BMW’s Jakub Smrz rounded out the top ten contenders.
Sole Honda Racing rider Jason O’Halloran narrowly missed out in 11th, with teammate Dan Linfoot ruled out for the upcoming round due to injury, with FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan in 12th. Halsall Racing Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell, OMG Racing Suzuki’s Gino Rea and Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty completed the top 15 in the third session.
