Qualifying three

Shane Byrne 51.374
Jason O’Halloran 51.375
Leon Haslam 51.513

Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne overcame some difficult weather to take pole position at Knockhill for tomorrow’s MCE British Superbike races.

Byrne hurtled round the Fife circuit to post a 51.374 and hold off Honda’s Jason O’Halloran by an incredible 0.001s and despite finding it tough, he will have given plenty of joy to Ducati Corse’s Ernesto Marinelli, in attendance this weekend with the team.

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam – in his first competitive visit to Knockhill for almost a decade – finish third, completing the front row as the championship leader seeks to hold onto that lead following tomorrow’s races.

On the second row, Haslam’s team-mate Peter Hickman leads the way in fourth, ahead of Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin and a fine result by American John Hopkins on the EpayMe Yamaha.

Rounding out the top ten in the soaking wet session in Scotland were Honda’s Dan Linfoot, Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper and Moto Rapido Ducati rider Danny Buchan.

Qualifying two

Shane Byrne 51.669
Jason O’Halloran 51.937
Leon Haslam 51.943

A huge rainshower, which lasted for around half an hour, caused all sorts of problems during the second qualifying session, eventually topped by Shane Byrne on the Ducati.

Rain began hammering down at the Scottish circuit just as Q2 was beginning, with Buchan one of the few to try out the track although all he did was get himself very wet in the torrential weather.

That saw the red flag come out and the session was suspended, at one point in danger of being abandoned and timings for Q1 settling the grid.

Thankfully, the rain cleared enough for the riders to make it back out on track and at the end of the session it was Byrne on top from Honda’s O’Halloran, the Aussie looking comfortable in the wet.

JG Speedfit’s Leon Haslam took another impressive third in the tricky conditions as some of the big guns began to hit trouble.

Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon came off worst, falling uninjured at Turn 2 late in the session as he sat seventh, but with no time to get his battered bike back on track he fell down to 15th, where he will start race one.

Also eliminated from Q2, despite their best efforts were JG Speedfit’s James Ellison, Friday’s fastest man Michael Laverty on the Tyco BMW and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey, having topped final practice this morning.

A stellar showing from Jake Dixon, on his first competitive qualifying as a British Superbike rider, saw him sit 13th in the end just ahead of Bennetts Suzuki’s Ryuichi Kiyonari and Iddon.

Eliminated

Ellison
Laverty
Mossey
Dixon
Kiyonari
Iddon
McConnell
Smrz
Jackson

Qualifying one

Leon Haslam 48.196
John Hopkins 48.244
Peter Hickman 48.302

Haslam was the fastest man on track in the opening qualifying session, despite not having seen the Scottish circuit in many years as he edged out Hopkins and his JG Speedfit team-mate Hickman.

Little in the way of great action happened in the first qualifying session, though remarkably local rider Stuart Easton was one of the big casualties not to make it through to Q2.

The Hawick rider had a difficult time on the EpayMe Yamaha and was unable to make it into a tight top 18, despite his team-mate Hopkins going so close to being fastest.

Tommy Bridewell on the Bennetts Suzuki was another rider who struggled in the opening session and he will start race one in P20.

Bridewell and Easton are joined on the back end of the grid by Backlund, Mainwaring, Seeley, Jessopp, Hook, Rispoli, Zanotti, Winfield, Tinmouth and Wainwright.

Eliminated

Easton
Bridewell
Backlund
Mainwaring
Seeley
Jessopp
Hook
Rispoli
Zanotti
Winfield
Tinmouth
Wainwright