Jason O’Halloran set the pace in the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship Official Test session of the day at Oulton Park, putting the McAMS Yamaha rider just a narrow 0.037s ahead of Tommy Bridewell in a final five-minute fight to end the test in Cheshire fastest.
The opening two sessions had been topped by reigning champion Eazi-Grip supported Josh Brookes and RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki Eazi-Grip supported rider Ryan Vickers, but the final 55-minute session of the day saw the times inevitably tumble in perfect conditions at the parkland circuit.
As fans returned to watch trackside for the first time since 2019, 577 days since the season finale at Brands Hatch, they were treated to a thrilling end to the day as several riders headed out for a time attack to end the test.
Brookes had held the advantage with 15 minutes to go, but O’Halloran had soon surged back ahead of his fellow compatriot as the Australian pair locked out the leading two positions. However, with six minutes remaining of the day Vickers had posted a time, which moved him back to the top, nudging McAMS Yamaha’s O’Halloran back into second place.
Peter Hickman was then on a sequence of flying laps and he moved into second position and just 0.196s adrift of Vickers’ leading time, however with three minutes remaining O’Halloran set a time which put him back into P1 as the final minutes ticked down.
Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Bridewell went into second position with just over a minute remaining of the day with Vickers moving back into third place, pushing Hickman into fourth at the chequered flag.
Brookes completed the top five for VisionTrack Ducati on his return to testing action after he missed the previous test at Snetterton following his crash at the Silverstone test. The defending champion moved back ahead of Gino Rea who led the Buildbase Suzuki charge in sixth. Glenn Irwin ended the day in seventh place for Honda Racing as six different manufacturers featured in the top seven positions.
Kyle Ryde ended the session in eighth place after a crash at Island ended his day prematurely despite a strong showing from the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW rider, who was second fastest in the opening two sessions.
Bradley Ray made his debut in 2021 on the second of the Rich Energy OMG Racing BMWs in ninth place on the combined times, just 0.005s ahead of SYNETIQ BMW rival Danny Buchan, who completed the top ten.
Jason O’Halloran
Pos: 1st Time:1’34.581
“We’ve obviously got good memories here from last year so I was really looking forward to coming back. We had a great bike last year but we’ve been trying a lot of stuff with it to try and take another step by evaluating where we can improve. Today we learned a lot, I rode a very different bike in each of the three sessions, so I was surprised to be fastest as when you’re making changes and trying to learn things it’s not always the easiest to be fast at the same time so to have achieved both is very good. We tried another new engine spec in the final session which was good but we’ve got a little bit of work to do to smoothen it out and get the best from it. We need to go on to the next test now and make sure that the setting we’re now working with works at another track; that’s the most important thing, going from track to track and having a good feeling. It was great to see the fans back at the track today, so I can’t wait to come back next month to race in front of them!”
Steve Rodgers
McAMS Yamaha Team Principal
“After Snetterton was a complete washout, it was a great to get three, dry sunny sessions here so we were on to a winner from the start! We knew Jason could be quick here, he took pole, won two races and set fastest laps here last year, but in order to improve our package for 2021 we’ve actually moved the bike quite a bit away from where it was when we were here last year. It always makes you nervous to take what you believe is an improved bike to a circuit where you were quick with the previous setting, so it was encouraging to see his pace throughout the day. We’ve still got a few little bits to iron out, but it was a really promising test for him.
“Oulton has been a trickier circuit for Taz in the past and missing the first session didn’t help them today, but it was good to see him smiling at the end of the day, happy with the direction they’d found as they have a decent starting point for when we roll up here for FP1 next month.”
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Official Test, combined times:
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