BSB: Redding heads the pack into Datatag Qualifying at Thruxton

Scott Redding topped the times in the closing stages of the final Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session from Thruxton this morning; saving his best lap until the closing minutes to leap ahead of Danny Buchan by 0.189s.

Dan Linfoot set the initial benchmark in the opening stages of the session but it was drama for Josh Brookes as the Be Wiser Ducati rider sat out the opening 15 minutes with a technical problem before he was able to clock up his first FP3 lap.

Buchan then surged to the top of the timing screens for FS-3 Racing Kawasaki, pushing Linfoot and Peter Hickman down the order. Christian Iddon then jumped up into the top three before Jason O’Halloran then moved into third and narrowly adrift of the Tyco BMW rider.

However with less than two minutes on the clock Redding was on top and that put him ahead of Buchan and Hickman with Iddon in close contention and Luke Mossey completing the top five. The OMG Racing Suzuki rider pushed O’Halloran into sixth with Brookes overcoming the earlier issue to end the session in seventh ahead of Linfoot.

The Irwin brothers completed the top ten with Andrew leading Glenn at the chequered flag with Datatag Qualifying coming up this afternoon from Thruxton.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Thruxton, Free Practice 3:

1. Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:14.916s
2. Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) +0.189s
3. Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.224s
4. Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +0.278s
5. Luke Mossey (OMG Racing Suzuki) +0.325s
6. Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +0.422s
7. Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.424s
8. Dan Linfoot (Santander Salt TAG Yamaha) +0.478s
9. Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.555s
10. Glenn Irwin (Tyco BMW) +0.564s