Rea jumps ahead of Mackenzie in Assen FP1

Full BSB FP1 results from Assen

Gino Rea has topped his first-ever Bennetts British Superbike practice session for OMG Suzuki setting the pace in FP1 at Assen ahead of McAMS Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie.

The former World Supersport rider arrives at a familiar circuit in Assen and duly set the pace at the end of FP1 with a 1m 37.058s to go over three-tenths of a second faster than nearest rival Mackenzie.

Anvil Hire Yamaha’s James Ellison impressed, switching to Ohlins suspension for the Assen round, to take third place in the morning session having briefly led the times with strongest BSB Showdown challenger Peter Hickman in fourth place for Smiths Racing BMW.

Hickman edged out fellow top six title fighters Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati) and 2015 BSB champion Josh Brookes (McAMS Yamaha) as championship top two took a conservative approach to the penultimate round.

With Michael Laverty slotting into seventh place for Tyco BMW, Oulton Park double winner Jake Dixon claimed eighth place with BSB championship leader Leon Haslam sticking to the harder Pirelli rear tyre for the whole session working on set-up tweaks with his JG Speedfit Kawasaki which restrained him to 16^th place on the timesheet.