Tommy Bridewell Leads The Way After The First Free Practice Session Of Round Eight At Silverstone.

The Bennetts British Superbikes are at the Northampton Circuit of Silverstone for Round Eight of the Championship. This round is the 2021 Showdown decider, four riders have been confirmed so far, leaving four all-important places to fight for this weekend! Iforce Lloyd & Jones have replaced Joe Francis with Irish rider Keith Farmer, Joe and the Iforce Lloyd & Jones Team made a mutual decision to part ways earlier this week. Sam Cox is replacing Joey Thompson at NP Motorcycles BMW, Joey and the NP Motorcycles Team have also parted ways.

Free Practice One was under cloudy skies and a drying track, just as the riders were about to start the session rain started to fall in all sectors. SYNETIQ BMW’s Andrew Irwin set the pace after three laps, most of the riders only did one lap and returned to the pits.

At the half-way mark of the session FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Rory Skinner was leading the way with BMW’s Danny Buchan in second and fellow BMW rider Kyle Ryde in third place. The rain had stopped so all the riders were back out on track.

With 15 minutes remaining in the session it was all-change at the top, Oxford Products Racing Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell was in first place, Honda’s Glenn Irwin in second and fellow Honda man Dan Linfoot in third place. Championship leader McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran was down in 18th place after only completing four laps.

Reigning 2020 Champion Josh Brookes got up-to third place with 10 minutes remaining in the session, team-mate Christian Iddon was in sixth place. McAMS Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie was in fourth place and FHO Racing BMW’s Peter Hickman was in fifth place. O’Halloran put his best lap time in after completing 12 laps and got into second place.

At the checkered flag it was Tommy Bridewell who finished the session in the top spot, O’Halloran in second, Mackenzie in third, Hickman fourth and Glenn Irwin in fifth place. Christian Iddon rounded out the top ten in tenth place.

Featured Image: Bennetts British Superbikes, Oxford Products Ducati, Moto Rapido Racing, Michael Hallam Photography.