2025 British Superbikes: Oulton Park - Practice Results

The first British Superbike action of 2025 saw Leon Haslam with the top time as the opening day decided the riders heading directly to Q2 on Sunday for the opening race at Oulton Park over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Haslam picked up where he left off in FP1 for the Moto Rapido Ducati team and lowered his own best time of the day, a flurry of purple sectors leading to a 1m 33.283s - a new lap record.

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Again the rest of the field suffered issues, with a lot of time spent in the pits, despite the recent test at the track, which had been topped by Bradley Ray.

After a first stint of over fifteen minutes saw no improvement, another trip to the garage lead to a better lap for Ray, again second to the #91 bike, as he had been in FP1 - but now just 0.041s slower on the Raceways Yamaha after seeing his record go, with not even a last solo dash with purple sectors enough to take over.

Charlie Nesbitt missed much of the second session with an issue, causing the wheel on his bike to lock and not turn. In seventh after FP1, the MasterMac Honda rider first found himself climbing up behind Glenn Irwin before a final flyer propelled the #86 up to third.

Kyle Ryde improved after ironing out his earlier issues with his OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing bike, the reigning champion saw his second session go to plan to move up to fourth.

Glenn Irwin had all the work to do after only four laps in FP1 saw him against the ropes in 18th at the start of the session, while his early lunge for a Q2 slot had been eradicated by the time of the red flag on track for a late crash.

That lead to a final five minute time attack, with the Ducati rider now back in 13th again, pushing to the front to leave the pits.

The red bike lead around Nesbitt, as well as Josh Brookes and Lee Jackson, but stayed a head and moved back into the progression slots, finishing FP2 in fifth.

Brookes finished just behind in sixth for DAO Racing, with teammate Jackson seventh.

Storm Stacey had placed third after FP1 and that time bailed him out after a session to forget, dipping in and out of the pits with no time set. The Bathams AJN Racing team were looking to fix a clutch issue, before discovering their woes were being caused by a gearbox problem, with plenty of work for the mechanics overnight to get the bike competitive again for qualifying on Sunday.

Danny Kent had an engine change before FP2 after his earlier problem, then placed ninth for McAMS Yamaha.

Christian Iddon pushing back into the top ten late on after sorting out a small oil leak found in FP1 on for AJN Steelstock Kawasaki.

His teammate Max Cook had a late push for eleventh with Tommy Bridewell just holding on after spending the closing minutes on the bubble in twelfth for Honda.

Rory Skinner was the rider just missing out in 13th, his improvements not quite enough, leading to a Q1 performance for the Cheshire Mouldings Ducati rider.

Scott Swann was back as the top rookie in 14th , moving ahead of John McPhee who finished Saturday in 17th.

There were two early falls at Lodge, first for Andrew Irwin, when still in 19th, with limited time he only moved up to 15th, swiftly followed by newcomer Blaze Baker (25th) .

With five minutes remaining the red flag came out to allow for repairs after Davey Todd (20th) had a crash at the Shell Oils hairpin.

Combined Direct Q2 Top Twelve

1: Leon Haslam (Moto Rapido Ducati) 1m 33. 283s (FP2)
2: Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) 1m 33.324s (FP2)
3: Charlie Nesbitt (MasterMac Honda) 1m 33.730s (FP2)
4: Kyle Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Racing Yamaha) 1m 33. 851s (FP2)
5: Glenn Irwin (Hager PBM Ducati) 1m 33.860s (FP2)
6: Josh Brookes (DAO Racing Honda) 1m 33.907s (FP2)
7: Lee Jackson (DAO RAcing Honda) 1m 33.938s (FP2)
8: Storm Stacey ( Banthams AJN Racing BMW) 1m 33.997s (FP1)
9: Danny Kent (McAMS Yamaha) 1m 34. 010s (FP2)
10: Christian Iddon (AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 1m 34.065s (FP2)
11: Max Cook ( AJN Steelstock Kawasaki) 1m 34.072s (FP2)
12: Tommy Bridewell (Honda Racing UK) 1m 34.091s (FP2)

Official British Superbike Oulton Park Records:

Lap record: Bradley Ray (Yamaha, 2022) 1m 33.620s

Oulton Park in 2024:

Race 2:

Qualifying: 1 Ryde (2 G Irwin, 3 Vickers)

Race 1: 1 G Irwin (2 Iddon 3 Ryde)
Race 2: (Sprint): 1 G Irwin (2 Bridewell, 3 Iddon)
Race 3: 1 G Irwin (2 Iddon, 3 Vickers)

Race 9 (Showdown):

Qualifying 1 O’Halloran (2 Cook, 3 Stacey)

Race 1:  1 Ryde (2 G Irwin, 3 Jackson)
Race 2: (Sprint): 1 G Irwin (2 Kent, 3 Haslam)
Race 3: 1 Ryde (2 Bridewell, 3 Stacey)

FP1

The first session, FP1, was issue filled for many of the BSB riders, but not Leon Haslam who was quick straight out of the box as the Ducati led the timesheets with his lap set at the mid way point, already closing in on record pace.

Ray experienced a little chatter but could improved on his own personal best late on to pull to 0.146s behind the fellow former champions time. BMW rider Storm Stacey finished the opening minutes of track time third, thanks to a fast final run to the chequered flag.

That pushed Kent to fourth, with the former Moto3 champion having a problem in the pits instead, with smoke appearing from his Yamaha.

Brookes was inside the top five as top Honda, ahead of Bridewell in sixth.  Both Bridewell and fellow Honda Racing UK rider Andrew Irwin had a similar, undisclosed issue, leaving Irwin 19th.

Nesbitt was seventh, Jackson eighth and Iddon the top Kawasaki in ninth. Kyle Ryde completed the top ten, but an issue saw him penalised for short cutting the circuit - as he pulled off track when aware. The #1 was bale to get back out on track for two more laps to check his problem was fixed.

Glenn Irwin was not was not as lucky - the PBM rider was experiencing a lack of power, which meant the rider from Northern Ireland only completed four laps, sitting 18th.

John McPhee was the best of the rookies as he continued to learn Oulton Park in 12th, while Davey Todd (16th ) and Peter Hickman ( 22nd) got their first proper tack time on their 2025 machines, finished minutes before FP1 got underway.

Richard Kerr had a late technical at Lodge, finishing 13th for Rokit BMW Motorrad, the newly titled Michael Laverty team. Luke Hedger (14th) saw his exhaust fall loose early, leading to repairs.