Dominant Brookes tops FP2 by 0.7secs

Click here for BSB Oulton Park Free Practice Results (2)

Josh Brookes laid down the gauntlet to his Bennetts British Superbike Championship rivals as he wrapped up the first day of track action at Oulton Park with a sizeable 0.7s advantage over the competition.

Quickest in FP1 earlier in the day, Brookes jostled for the top spot on the FP2 timesheets throughout as lap times improved together with the track conditions culminating in a 1m 34.321s effort in the closing seconds.

Taking him 0.7s clear of the competition, Brookes’ eye-catching lap times on the new Be Wiser Ducati Panigale V4 R sees rivals playing catch up ahead of qualifying on Sunday.

Leading that challenge is Danny Buchan on the FS-3 Kawasaki, who consolidated his top three result in FP1 with a run to second quickest in FP2. Similarly, Peter Hickman was once more on the pace in third position as the Smiths Racing team savours the benefits of track mileage with its new BMW S1000RR 

Luke Mossey made it four different manufacturers inside the top four aboard his OMG Suzuki, with Tommy Bridewell rounding out the top five aboard the Oxford Racing Ducati.

Christian Iddon headed up the Tyco BMW challenge in sixth position, ahead of Jason O’Halloran as the best of the McAMS Yamahas riders on a day that saw the Yamaha R1 struggle to replicate the strong pace it demonstrated at Silverstone. 

BSB rookie Ryan Vickers continues to make impressive strides on Superbike machinery by posting the eighth fastest time aboard the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki, ahead of joint championship leader Tarran Mackenzie and Tyco BMW’s Keith Farmer.

Elsewhere, Scott Redding couldn’t match Brookes’ pace on the sister Be Wiser Ducati en route to 13^th quickest, ahead of top Honda representative Andrew Irwin in 14^th position.