Superpole
Leon Haslam 1’28.275
Shane Byrne 1’28.370
James Ellison 1’28.870
JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam made history during the MCE British Superbike Superpole session at his home circuit of Donington Park after smashing the lap record, and setting the fastest ever lap time around the Leicestershire circuit.
Haslam clocked an out of this world 1’28.275, going over one and a half seconds under lap record pace and comfortably placed his ZX-10R on the number one spot on the grid for race one.
Title fighter, Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne was one tenth off the best lap of Haslam, but still impressed with a 1’28.370, and is in the middle of a JG Speedfit Kawasaki sandwich, as James Ellison completed the front row, with a solid 1’28.870.
New dad and Showdown rookie, Luke Mossey missed out on P3 by one tenths of a second and heads row two, followed by Tyco BMWs Christian Iddon and Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot.
The Stockport rider’s, team-mate and fellow title challenger, Jason O’Halloran was unable to reach the dizzy heights of the 1’28’s, and was eighth fastest in Superpole, with Bridewell starting at the head of row three. Peter Hickman finished the session in ninth.
Qualifying two
Leon Haslam 1’28.326
Shane Byrne 1’28.485
James Ellison 1’28.820
In a repeat of the opening qualifying session it was local rider, Haslam who once again blitzed his own fastest lap record with an impressive 1’28.326.
It was a complete Showdown racer provisional front row, with Byrne and Ellison joining Haslam on the top three of the sheets. It was not the best of sessions for Buildbase BMW’s Lee Jackson and team-mate Richard Cooper as both failed to make it through into the top nine, with birthday boy Jackson experiencing a technical issue with his S1000RR on his last lap.
Riders Cup contender, Michael Laverty also found himself in the drop zone, alongside Seeley, and the Ducati machines of Irwin and Easton.
Redgate claimed some rider’s in Q2, including the fastest racer this morning, ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins.
The American was on a hot lap when he took a tumble and was unable to get back on to his R1 and was therefore out contention to bag a pole position. The sole Smiths Racing bike of Jakub Smrz also crashed at Redgate.
Eliminated
Jackson
Cooper
Laverty
Seeley
Irwin
Easton
McConnell
Hopkins
Smrz
Qualifying one
Leon Haslam 1’28.768
Dan Linfoot 1’28.892
Shane Byrne 1’28.978
Haslam set the track alight with a fantastic 1’28.768, going quicker than John Hopkins fastest ever lap during FP3. Fellow Showdown fighters Linfoot and Byrne completed the provisional front row.
Easton made it into the second qualifying session by 0.03 seconds and on his final lap pushed down Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Filip Backlund out on the top eighteen.
James Rispoli, and his team-mate Winfield were unable to make it out of the drop zone, as did Iannuzzo, Hook, Wainwright, Zanotti and Honda Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth.
There was no Ryuichi Kiyonari onboard the Smiths Racing’s bike as he had a knee injury after coming off his S1000RR in FP2 yesterday, and has decided to sit out the rest of the weekend’s proceedings.
Eliminated
Backlund
Rispoli
Hook
Wainwright
Zanotti
Winfield
Tinmouth
