Qualifying three

Shane Byrne 48.333

Alex Lowes 48.769

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki Shane Byrne blasted to pole position with an impressive 48.333 lap and proved unbeatable out on the Knockhill circuit, and will start race the first MCE British Superbike race of the day tomorrow from the number one spot on the grid.

Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes was one hundredths of a second slower than the reigning champ and even though the Aussie rider completed more laps of the Scottish circuit in Q3 than another rider he still could not scrap past Byrne to clinch pole position, and will see himself start from second after his impressive 48.343 time. But both riders were quicker than Byrne’s own circuit lap record of 48.474 which he set back in 2006.

Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes rounds off the front row, with the Lincolnshire rider starting the race tomorrow from third on the grid. Buildbase BMW’s Jon Kirkham was only 0.3 seconds off Lowes’ lap time, and narrowly missed out on a front row start, and has to contend with starting from the second row of the grid.

Kirkham will be joined by Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, who has improved on his previous poor form this weekend and was in contention for a provisional front row start. But a 48.986 lap safely placed the Japanese rider on the second row, and is sandwiched between Kirkham and Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen.

The third row is made up of Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland and Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Keith Farmer. GBmoto’s Peter Hickman completes the third row, but his team were in a race against time to make sure his bike was fixed to go out for Q3 after crashing his Honda in the previous session.

Qualifying two

Shane Byrne 48.624

Alex Lowes 48.769

Byrne dominated Q2 and set a fastest time of 48.624, overtaking Brookes who was leading for the majority of the session. Lowes was third quickest followed by Jacobsen.

The session was red-flagged with one minute remaining because of crashes from Doodson Motorsport’s Robbin Harms at Leslies, and seconds later GBmoto’s Peter Hickman fell at Scotsman. Both riders were unable to rejoin for the remainder of the session, but Hickman did enough to cling to tenth to go into Q3, but Harms was in eighteenth and was already in the drop zone.

Farmer was in eleventh but used the final ten seconds of Q2 to go eighth with a 49.181 lap, meaning he pushed Bathams Honda rider Tommy Bridewell into the elimination zone, proving that his time of 49.306 was not enough to push him into Q3. He is joined by veteran team-mate Michael Rutter who could also not do enough to get out of the drop zone.

GBmoto’s Dan Linfoot returned to his first qualifying session for two months, after being out since April with a pelvis injury, and even though he did flourish in the earlier session could not do enough to progress.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison still struggled and this time a last lap dash could not save him, and could only manage the thirteenth fastest time. He was joined in the elimination zone by Padgett’s Honda’s Jakub Smrz, PR Racing’s Karl Harris, Rapido Sport Racing’s Matteo Baiocco and Harms.

EMLIMINATED

Tommy Bridewell

Dan Linfoot

James Ellison

Jakub Smrz

Karl Harris

Matteo Baiocco

Michael Rutter

Robbin Harms

Qualifying one

Josh Brookes 48.871

Shane Byrne 48.995

It was a nervous twenty minutes for the Milwaukee Yamaha team as both rider’s, James Ellison and Josh Waters were hovering above the drop zone for the majority of Q1. The team-mates were setting similar lap times, which were just enough to keep them inside the top twenty quickest times.

Waters was fractionally quicker than Ellison, but when the Cumbrian was in nineteenth and ready to be eliminated he put in his fastest lap to catapult him up to tenth, meaning he survived to go into Q2. But Ellison’s progression meant his Aussie team-mate slipped into the dreaded nineteenth spot, meaning he was eliminated.

It was also not a good afternoon for the MH Kawasaki team. Rider Howie Mainwaring Smart was around the drop zone for most of the session, and he failed to progress into Q2, and is joined by team-mate Michael Howarth. Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan could not emulate his previous good form that he set in the final free practice session earlier in the day, and when the chequered flag came out he found himself in the elimination zone. Halsall Racing’s Lee Costello, Stel Suzuki’s Aaron Zanotti, Two Wheel Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth were never in contention of making it into Q2 and remained in the drop zone throughout the whole session.

ELIMINATED

Josh Waters

Howie Mainwaring Smart

Danny Buchan

Lee Costello

Aaron Zanotti

Jenny Tinmouth

Michael Howarth

Click here for times