BSB: Irwin under lap record to top Oulton test

Glenn Irwin led the way in today’s official Bennetts British Superbike test at Oulton Park ahead of Leon Haslam and team-mate Shane Byrne.

The Be Wiser Ducati rider’s time of 1’34.223, 0.2 seconds under Josh Brookes’ race lap record, placed him a comfortable 0.3 quicker than winner last time out Leon Haslam.

Reigning champion Shane Byrne was third quickest, just 0.043 seconds off Haslam.

Josh Brookes and the McAMS Yamaha team appeared to turn a corner at the Cheshire circuit following their private test at Silverstone last week. Having finally made a step forward with the rear grip issues he’d been having in the opening rounds, the Aussie was fourth quickest ahead of RAF Regular and Reserve Kawasaki’s Jake Dixon.

Richard Cooper was sixth for Buildbase Suzuki ahead of the Smiths BMW of Peter Hickman, while series leader Bradley Ray was ninth quickest overall after three sessions on track.

Jakub Smrz rounded out the top ten for PR Racing BMW ahead of the sole Honda Racing machine of Jason O’Halloran as Dan Linfoot continues to recover from injury.

Aside from Linfoot, the only other rider absent from the day’s action was James Ellison who is still in America with his family. Filling in for him in the Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha team was Chris ‘The Stalker’ Walker, who rounded out the day as the 25^th fastest superbike on track.