Rory Skinner made a stellar return to the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at his home round of Knockhill, setting an early benchmark in the opening session for Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad. His fastest time, set in dry conditions, remained unchallenged due to wet weather for the rest of the day.
Skinner led the first Free Practice by a narrow margin of 0.058s over reigning champion Tommy Bridewell, with just 0.999s separating the top 17 riders on the intense 1.26-mile Knockhill circuit. This marked Skinner’s comeback after missing previous races at Donington Park following a warm-up crash at Oulton Park.
Leon Haslam posted the third fastest time for ROKiT BMW Motorrad, narrowly ahead of Danny Buchan on the DAO Racing Kawasaki, who has a strong track record at Knockhill. Josh Brookes rounded out the top five for the FHO Racing BMW Motorrad Team.
Danny Kent secured sixth place for McAMS Racing Yamaha, edging out championship leader Glenn Irwin on the Hager PBM Ducati and Lee Jackson on the MasterMac Honda. Jackson took eighth by just 0.002s from Jason O’Halloran, with Andrew Irwin completing a top ten featuring nine different teams.
Charlie Nesbitt and Ryan Vickers, who returned after his injury at Donington Park to lead the OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing riders, completed the top 12. Vickers’ teammate Kyle Ryde missed the opening session due to illness but rejoined in Free Practice Two. However, with wet conditions in the afternoon, he will need to progress through Qualifying One to compete for the Omologato pole position.
In the afternoon’s wet session, O’Halloran led with a best time of 52.323s, 4.206s slower than the dry session’s top times. The Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki rider edged out Vickers by 0.025s, while Haslam ended the session with a crash.
MSVR Press Release
