WFR Honda's Alex Lowes reckons he was lucky to have prior knowledge of Assen going into this weekend's MCE British Superbike Showdown round and it helped him to his third career pole.

The Derbyshire resident rode for the Castrol Honda World Superbike team as a stand-in for the injured Jonathan Rea last year but he put in a blistering lap in tricky conditions to go fastest today.

"I am pretty lucky that I knew this track from before and then we worked hard on the set up and knew what we had in us for qualifying. I was pushing really hard in the third session but it is the races that count for me now. I know I am up for the fight tomorrow whatever happens and it is awesome to have got the first pole position here," he said.