Iddon leads close fought pack on day one

Local rider Christian Iddon led the pack at the end of the first day of MCE British Superbike action at Oulton Park as the top 17 riders were covered by less than a second.

The Tyco BMW man showed strong pace in both wet and dry conditions, setting a time of 1’35.215 in the second free practice session to outpace young gun Luke Mossey at the Cheshire circuit with Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper third.

Championship leader Shane ‘Shakey Byrne’ topped the morning’s wet practice session but was unable to maintain the pace in the afternoon, languishing in 15^th place on the Be Wiser PBM Ducati.

RAF BMW’s Alastair Seeley placed an impressive fourth place ahead of Bennetts Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell and Lee Jackson on the second Buildbase BMW.

Danny Buchan set the seventh fastest time ahead of ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins with James Ellison and Dan Linfoot rounding out the top ten

Despite Ellison’s top ten, it was a tough session for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki squad with both Peter Hickman and Leon Haslam suffering technical problems during the session.

Michael Howarth didn’t get off to the best of starts as he looked to make his return to the grid on the Motodex BMW, the Yorkshire rider suffered a broken femur in an incident in the morning’s wet practice session ruling him out of the rest of the weekend’s activities.

Series bosses will be hoping for dry weather for Saturday’s qualifying having yet to roll out their all-new superpole format after wet weather at Silverstone.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, free practice two result:

1. Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) 1m:35.215s
2. Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.028s
3. Richard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +0.239s
4. Alastair Seeley (Royal Air Force BMW) +0.290s
5. Tommy Bridewell (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.310s
6. Lee Jackson (Buildbase BMW) +0.324s
7. Danny Buchan (Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati) +0.379s
8. John Hopkins (ePayMe Yamaha) +0.427s
9. James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.573s
10. Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.657s