Silverstone BSB Test sees 22 riders within a second….

2022 Silverstone British Superbike Test

Images by Dave Yeomans

Tommy Bridewell topped the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship pre-season Official Test at Silverstone this week, setting the benchmark lap time in the final session of the day for the Oxford Products Racing Ducati team despite high winds and cool conditions.

Bridewell’s pace-setting lap came on lap four of a six-lap run as last year’s title runner-up bids to go one better this season. The time put him just 0.103s ahead of Rory Skinner’s time from the previous day on the FS-3 Racing Kawasaki.

Tommy Bridewell – Oxford Products Racing Ducati – P1

“We have had a really strong pre-season test for definite. The test here has been fundamental to be honest. We have a lot of new parts that we had to test and we found something today as we had been experiencing a little issue. There were a lot of positives and one negative, but we continued riding today to fix it and we managed to, so because of that I am feeling really strong coming into round one.”

The lap times had been incredibly close throughout the two days, and as next weekend’s opening round at Silverstone beckons, the top 22 riders were covered by just 0.909s despite the mixed conditions.

The Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha team had a positive end to their pre-season testing with Kyle Ryde and Bradley Ray locking out the next two positions on the timesheets in third and fourth place respectively.

Honda Racing UK’s Glenn Irwin completed the top five as he set his fastest lap in the penultimate session of the day, edging out Dan Linfoot on the iForce BMW. Christian Iddon was the leading Buildbase Suzuki rider in seventh place, making it six different manufacturers to feature in the top seven positions.

2018 champion Leon Haslam was eighth fastest for the VisionTrack Kawasaki team ahead of Danny Buchan, whilst Rapid CDH Racing Kawasaki’s Josh Owens impressed to complete the top ten.

Andrew Irwin, Ryan Vickers and Jason O’Halloran narrowly missed out on the top ten whilst double champion Josh Brookes and his new MCE Ducati team-mate Tom Sykes finished the test in 14th and 19th respectively, with Sykes also having a small crash.

Josh Brookes – MCE Ducati – P14

“It was a fairly productive test despite the weather being difficult with rain and gusty winds at times. But it’s been the same for everyone and from our side, we’ve done a lot of work with various settings and combinations. Silverstone has always been tricky for our bike, but last year, Silverstone was a good round for us. We’ve struggled in the last sector of the track in the past so that’s an area we’ve concentrated on this week and now the bike is working as good as it ever has. Tom SykesSo everything is positive going into the race weekend over Easter, it’s just a case of seeing what the weather will do but I’m ready to rock.”

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Tom Sykes – MCE Ducati – P19

“I came here in good spirits after a positive test at Snetterton and found how the Ducati works so came here excited to continue that work. The start of yesterday didn’t go to plan, but I was going about my business and finding where the bike was working and where we needed to improve. The guys have made some small tweaks to the bike with the information since Snetterton, so everything is definitely heading in the right direction. The cold temperatures and really gusty wind meant I didn’t take the best from the bike or myself today but found some more information in preparation for next week.”

Reigning champion Tarran Mackenzie has been diagnosed with a fracture to the left ankle after his high-speed crash yesterday following assessment at University Hospital Coventry.

 

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The opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship takes place at Silverstone over the Easter weekend of 15/17 April.

Silverstone British Superbike Test Times

British Superstock / Supersport

Tim Neave (Edwards Yamaha) topped proceedings in British Superstock but it was pretty tight at the top with Joe Francis (Stauff Fluid Kawasaki) and Charlie Nesbitt (VisionTrack Suzuki) hot on his heels.

Billy McConnell was the highest ranked Aussie in seventh on the Jackson Racing Honda while Brayden Elliott (CFS Filtration No Bull Honda) was 13th and Levi Day (Powerslide Suzuki) 29th in what was a 35-strong contingent of Superstock riders. Levi Day only completed day one of the test.

There are no Ducati motorcycles competing in British Superstock due to the V4 R not coming in under the cost cap for the category that is enforced in BSB.

Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) topped the Supersport category ahead of defending champion Jack Kennedy (Mar-Train Yamaha). New Zealand’s Damon Rees (Ashcourt Yamaha) was 14th in the Supersport class.

British Superstock / Supersport Combined Times

British Junior Superstock/GP2/Ducati Cup

Max Cook (Yamaha) led the way in Junior Superstock ahead of New Zealand’s Zak Fuller (Kawasaki).

The leading Aussie in the Junior Superstock ranks was Seth Crump (Yamaha) in ninth ahead of Jacob Hatch (Kawasaki) in 17th.

Leading the way in GP2 was Cameron Fraser ahead of Harvey Claridge.

David Shoubridge was the top ranking Ducati Tri-Options Cup competitor by a fair margin over Tom Tunstall.

British Junior Superstock/GP2/Ducati Cup Combined Times