2022 Fri 15 Apr

O'Halloran leads the way with quickest ever lap of Silverstone

Jason O’Halloran led the way as the 2022 Bennetts British Superbike Championship got underway at Silverstone. The Australian rider topped both of Friday’s free practice sessions for the McAMS Yamaha Team as he set a new outright lap record of the Silverstone National circuit.

In the Pirelli National Superstock class, Edwards 1902 McAMS Yamaha’s Tim Neave topped the timesheets, lapping the Silverstone circuit quicker than he has ever before.

Flying the flag solo this weekend with team-mate Tarran Mackenzie out through injury, O’Halloran built up his pace in both sessions as he searched to refine his race set-up with the 2022 R1 and new crew chief Les Pearson.

A time of 53’358 saw him lead the opening session by over a tenth, which is quite the gap on such a short circuit. Things were a bit closer in the second session though, with O’Halloran leading OMG Yamaha’s Kyle Ryde by just 0.040 seconds as he lapped under his 2021 pole position with a time of 53’107.

After a strong pre-season test programme, Edwards 1902 McAMS Yamaha’s Tim Neave was feeling strong ahead of the opening round. Sixth in the morning’s opening session, he’d go on to take the top spot in FP2 with a time of 54.380.

Saturday marks the opening race for both the Superbike and Superstock classes with lights out in the Stock class at 14:50 ahead of the opening Bennetts BSB race at 16:15.

Jason O'Halloran

53'107

1st

“It was a good first day for us, it was good to get some laps in after the test last week was a bit of a waste with the weather. Conditions have been perfect today. We are still working through some things and have some things to improve but, overall it’s been a really positive day and we are looking forward to getting racing tomorrow.”

Tim Neave

Edwards 1902 Superstock 1000

1st

“It’s been a good day, we started FP1 with the wrong gearing really as it was geared for the test last week when there was a bit of a headwind, but once we’d sorted that the bike felt mega. That’s quicker than I’ve ever been here, so I’m pretty happy going into tomorrow.”

Steve Rodgers

Team Principal

“Overall we’ve had a really positive opening day with both Jason and Tim leading the way for the team in their respective classes. Jason topping both sessions was great as he was working through quite a few different options for the races and he’s still got a few things he’d like to improve, so it’s always encouraging to be fast when in that position. Tim continues to impress us and is looking really strong on the R1, we are really looking forward to seeing what he can do in the race tomorrow.”

Pos	Rider	Time	Bike
1	Jason O'Halloran	53'107	Yamaha
2	Kyle Ryde	53'147	Yamaha
3	Lee Jackson	53'204	Kawasaki
4	Luke Hopkins	53'215	Kawasaki
5	Christian Iddon	53'299	Ducati
6	Rory Skinner	53'343	Kawasaki
7	Ryan Vickers	53'463	Yamaha
8	Tommy Bridewell	53'463	Ducati
9	Danny Buchan	53'660	BMW
10	Andrew Irwin	53'485	Honda

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	PTS
1	Glenn Irwin	PBM Ducati	Ducati	360.5
2	Tommy Bridewell	PBM Ducati	Ducati	360
3	Kyle Ryde	RICH Energy OMG Racing Yamaha	Yamaha	300
4	Leon Haslam	ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team	BMW	283
5	Lee Jackson	FS-3 Racing Kawasaki	Kawasaki	280.5
6	Jason O'Halloran	McAMS Yamaha	Yamaha	276.5
7	Josh Brookes	FHO Racing	BMW	250
8	Christian Iddon	Oxford Ducati	Ducati	222
9	Ryan Vickers	OMG Racing	Yamaha	207
10	Charlie Nesbitt	Hawk Racing	Honda	122.5

R10