Thruxton BSB: Brookes blasts to the top of the practice sheets

Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s Josh Brookes went two tenths under his own lap record during the final MCE British Superbike free practice session at Thruxton.

The former BSB champ set the fastest time of the race weekend so far, with a 1’14.657. But with three minutes remaining the red flags appeared at the side of the circuit, as JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey crashed at Allard.

The young gun had just put down a 1’15.009, that placed him second on the timing-screens and then he unfortunately fell on the straight and was taken to the medical centre for further assessment.

Brookes was the only rider during the session to lap a sub 1’15 time, with Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne rounding up the top three times, with a 1’15.093.

There was only a short stoppage to proceedings and when the session restarted Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins lapped a 1’15.246, and then was on another hot lap before he was scuppered by a technical problem at Cobb, just as the chequered flags made an appearance at the side of the Hampshire track. The American finished the morning fourth quickest.

It was another solid session for Jakub Smrz who went 0.7s quicker than JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam who put down a 1’15.487 – which is his best time of the weekend so far.

It was a stellar outing for rookie, Tyco BMW’s Andy Reid. It is the first time that the Northern Irishman has made it inside the top ten times during any BSB practice session and was lapping in the high 1’15’s during the 45 minute outing.

Peter Hickman, Jake Dixon and local lad, Martin Jessopp were all inside the top ten this afternoon. O’Halloran, Irwin, Linfoot, Iddon and the Devizes swearbox himself, Tommy Bridewell all clocked times that were within the top 15 on the timesheets. Mossey was not the only rider to crash. FS-3 Racing’s Billy McConnell fell at Seagrave on only his outlap. The Aussie was unhurt but his team are in a race against time to get his ZX-10RR ready for qualifying.