Qualifying three

Jake Dixon – 1’35.639
Taz Mackenzie – 1’35.643
Leon Haslam – 1’35.887

Jake Dixon set the fastest ever BSB lap of Assen on his way to pole position in this afternoon’s Bennetts British Superbike qualifying.

The RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki rider led Taz Mackenzie and championship rival Leon Haslam to the top spot today after setting the quickest lap the series has ever seen around the Dutch circuit – a 1’35.579 in Q2 – en route to pole.

Dixon was straight into the lead on his first flying lap as the only main in the 1’35s, but JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Haslam joined him moments later with a 1’35.979 as the two championship protagonists continued trading blows.

Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran had stopped with a technical problem, ruling him out of any further improvements from eighth place, but the surprise of the session came from McAMS Yamaha’s Mackenzie, who went quickest with a 1’35.643 before Dixon pipped him by just 0.004s to go back to the top of the order.

Despite sticking in a fast first sector, Dixon rolled off as the chequered flag waved and didn’t need to better his fastest time of the session as he had already taken pole from Mackenzie and Haslam.

Be Wiser’s Glenn Irwin joined fellow Ducati man, Moto Rapido’s Tommy Bridewell, on row two as Josh Brookes will start sixth. Christian Iddon leads O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot on the third row.

Qualifying two

Jake Dixon – 1’35.579
Leon Haslam – 1’35.661
Glenn Irwin –1’36.104

Dixon was straight back into the lead as the session got underway, but Haslam made sure his lead wouldn’t last when he set a 1’35.662, the fastest lap of the day.

But moments later, Dixon went even quicker and laid down a 1’35.579 to take the lead straight back as Glenn Irwin and Mackenzie slotted into the top four ahead of Linfoot.

O’Halloran joined his fellow Honda man in Q3 contention with a lap that put him eighth with less than a minute to go, but Brookes shoved him back onto the bubble as he moved up from 13th to sixth just seconds before the flag.

OMG Racing Suzuki’s Gino Rea looked to be on for a trip to the final qualifying, but crashed out at the end of the Ramshoek, putting him out of contention as he will start from row four.

Eliminated

Hickman

Rea

Ellison

Laverty

Andrew Irwin

Cooper

Ray

Mossey

Qualifying one

Jake Dixon – 1’35.716
Leon Haslam – 1’36.311
Taz Mackenzie – 1’36.528

Haslam was straight back to the top and straight under the official lap record as he popped in a 1’36.311, leading Brookes and Rea before Mackenzie set a 1’36.528 to nudge his team-mate back to third.

Dixon, Bridewell, Mossey, Ellison and Hickman stuck in early top-eight times, but Iddon and Glenn Irwin shot up the order as the injured Iddon went fourth quickest while the Northern Irishman slotted into seventh.

But Dixon scorched into the lead with the first 1’35 of the weekend, a 1’35.716, to go almost six tenths faster than Haslam.

Ray was left languishing outside the top 20, but stuck in a late flyer to move into Q2 while Danny Buchan binned his FS-3 Racing Kawasaki at Stekkenwal while running in 18th, but scraped through into second qualifying as no one could go quicker as the chequered flag flew.

Eliminated

Barrier

Law

Elliott

Harrison

Jessopp

Rogers

Francis

Winfield

Zanotti

Click here for times