BSB: McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran Leads the Way in Free Practice One at Brands Hatch
By Dawn Hammersley
Championship hopeful Jason O’Halloran holds off his championship rivals as he claims top spot on day one.
It was the Honda’s brothers Glenn and Andrew Irwin who lead the way early on in the session at a cloudy but dry Brands Hatch, Glenn finished the session in a strong third-place whilst Andrew dropped down the order slightly finishing in seventh place.
McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran was in first place for most of the session, putting in the fastest lap of 1:26.113. His team-mate Tarran Mackenzie crashed out at Sterlings 15 minutes into the session and had to be taken to the medical centre for further examination and took no further part in the afternoon’s proceedings, Mackenzie has had previous bad luck at the Kent circuit crashing early on in the race weekends!
VisionTrack Ducati’s championship leader Josh Brookes had a relatively quiet session and never took the top place position, he ended in fifth place just in front of his team-mate and championship rival Christian Iddon, Im sure both Ducati riders will be upping their race pace for tomorrow’s track action.
Global Robots BMW’s Peter Hickman’s woes continued as he had technical issues throughout the session, he finished down in 16th place. The Global Robots BMW Team run by the Smith family have decided this will be their last weekend in the Bennetts British Superbike series, Hickman has revealed he has signed with a new team for 2021 but not confirmed which Team it is.
With only six minutes to go, last round wild card rider Matt Truelove crashed at Sterlings causing the session to be red-flagged, the riders came back out on track where O’Halloran remained in first place with Synetiq BMW Motorrad’s Brad Ray finishing in second place. The top 11 riders were separated by one second.
Buildbase Suzuki rider Keith Farmer was missing from the BSB class due to him being demoted to the Superstock 1000 class for the last racing weekend due to Hawk Racing attempting to cut costs, they informed the Irish rider to start conversations with other teams for the 2021 season. Farmer has won four titles at 600 and 1000cc levels, so he is no stranger to the Superstock Class.
Will O’Halloran hold on to his top spot as we go into tomorrows proceedings, challenging his fellow countryman for the championship lead?
Featured Image: McAMS Yamaha Team/Impact Images