Shane 'Shakey' Byrne edged back to the top of the free practice times at Oulton Park this afternoon, holding off arch rival Josh Brookes by 0.115s ahead of Bank Holiday Monday’s third round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

Byrne had been nudged to second in the opening session with just 0.008s separating him and Honda Racing’s Jason O'Halloran, who was twelfth fastest this afternoon – with just 0.934s between him and the pace-setting time.

Brookes had been making a resurgence following a positive test last week at the Cheshire circuit and the McAMS Yamaha rider progressively moved up the order to push Leon Haslam back into second place in the closing stages.

Jake Dixon proved his pace again in the second session running fourth fastest for the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki team, narrowly ahead of an improving Taylor Mackenzie who powered the Moto Rapido Ducati into the top five, just 0.006s adrift of Dixon.

Championship leader Bradley Ray was sixth fastest but admitted he has more to come in Datatag Qualifying tomorrow for the Buildbase Suzuki team, but he held off the improving Glenn Irwin on the second of the Be Wiser Ducatis.

Luke Mossey posted the eighth fastest time, to keep himself ahead of Danny Buchan and Peter Hickman who completed the top ten.

Ryuichi Kiyonari posted the 23rd fastest time, improving his pace by 0.697s over the two sessions on the second of the Honda Racing Fireblades.