BSB: Brookes masters all conditions to take Friday honours at Donington
By Dawn Hammersley
VisionTrack Ducati’s Josh Brookes and Christian Iddon start their weekend with a fast pace, while McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran lower down the order finishing the opening session in ninth and the wet second practice, which had been moved forward, in eighth position.
Free Practice one was under cloudy conditions at the Derbyshire Track, Honda Racing’s Glenn Irwin was leading for most of the session until VisionTrack Ducati’s Brookes took the lead for the rest of the session, with his team-mate Iddon finishing in fourth position.
The opening session of the weekend spelt disaster for Bradley Ray as he crashed at the Melbourne Loop on his fourth lap, resulting in a leg injury that has put him out for the remainder of the weekend, it wasn’t Synetic BMW Motorrad’s day as Brad’s replacement rider Ian Hutchinson crashed at Schwantz in free practice two, and Taylor Mackenzie was 11.8 seconds off first place in last position.
A change of fortune for Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell saw the round three winner finish in sixth and third position, a much better pace than his previous two rounds.
Rain caught out Global Robots BMW’s Peter Hickman who crashed with one minute till the end of the session at Goddards, he finished nine seconds off the pace in Free Practice two.
Rain was the order of play for free practice two, seeing nine crashes throughout the session, Josh Owens’ caused a red flag 10 minutes into the session, all the riders were ok apart from NP Motorcycles BMW’s Bjorn Estment who was being assessed by the track at the end of the session.
The top five riders were covered by one second, with Brookes putting a fast lap in of 1:47.378 and his team mate not far behind him. Can the Australian keep up his momentum and Take control of the British Superbike Title this weekend at the GP circuit of Donington Park?
Featured Image: Bonnie Lane