Qualifying three
Alex Lowes 1’36.261
Shane Byrne 1’36.638
Tommy Bridewell 1’37.134
Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes will start the first MCE British Superbike race at Assen tomorrow from pole position, and he only needed one lap to cement his place at the top of the timesheets.
The Lincolnshire rider continued to smash his own lap records and left his best lap till last, and completely obliterated his time from earlier in the day to clock a new lap record of 1’36.261.
Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne could not topple Lowes from the top spot on the grid and was four tenths of a second off the pace, but starts on the front row, with Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell rounding off the top three.
The Devizes swearbox set a 1’37.134 time, but as he crossed the line he pushed new team-mate James Ellison off the front row, and the title fighter has to start from row two, as he was one tenths of a second slower.
The Cumbrian will be joined on row two by Padgett’s Jakub Smrz and Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes. In a repeat of the final free practice outing the Aussie was able to out pace title rival, Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari to start the race on Sunday in sixth.
The last of the title fighters, Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland joins Kiyo on row three. The rider was in tenth for most of the session, but when the chequered flag came out he jumped up two places to eighth. GBmoto’s Dan Linfoot and Westmoreland’s team-mate Jon Kirkham round off the top ten.
Qualifying two
Alex Lowes 1’37.139
James Ellison 1’37.256
Shane Byrne 1’37.465
It was the Lowes show again in Q2, with the Derby rider setting the fastest time of the session with a 1’37.139. The Honda rider’s lap was not as fast as the one from the opening qualifier, but it was enough to set a provisional pole place.
Ellison did improve his pace and clocked the second quickest time, only one tenth of a second off the time of Lowes, with a 1’37.256, with title fighter Byrne rounding off the provisional front row place, after setting the third quickest time.
One of the biggest shocks during the second qualifying session was the fact that Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen suffered a technical problem and he wan unable to make it out of his garage, and even after setting provisional front row times all weekend the New Yorker has to start on the sixth row in eightheenth place for the first race tomorrow afternoon.
Dutch rider Danny De Boer takes up Michael Rutter’s seat on the Bathams Honda. The veteran racer is currently on Honda TT Legends duty at the Le Mans 24 hours this weekend. De Boer was close to making it into Q3, but finished eleventh quickest and was eliminated.
Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Noriyuki Haga was also another big named that failed to progress into the final qualifying session. The former World Superbike rider is racing in the place of injured Keith Farmer, and looked as if his last lap dash would be enough to clinch a place in the top ten, but it was not enough and he has to start on the fourth row.
Doodson Motorsports Robbin Harms returned this week to racing after being out with a broken wrist after crashing at Snetterton a few months ago, but he did not make it into Q3 after a crash at De Bult, but was fortunately unhurt.
Joining Harms, Haga and Jacobsen in the drop zone was Quattro Plant’s Barry Burrell, Rapido Sport’s Matteo Baiocco and Riders BMW’s Martin Jessopp.
ELIMINATED
Danny De Boer
Peter Hickman
Noriyuki Haga
Barry Burrell
Matteo Baiocco
Martin Jessopp
Robbin Harms
PJ Jacobsen
Qualifying one
Alex Lowes 1’36.983
Josh Brookes 1’37.565
Shane Byrne 1’37.568
Lowes stormed to the top of the timesheets from the moment he left the garage and on only his second lap clocked the quickest time of the weekend so far with a 1’36.983. The 23-year-old did more laps in Q1 than any other rider, a total of eleven, but there was really no need as he was the only racer to lap in the 1’36’s.
Brookes found the race pace that he had been lacking from yesterday to place himself on the provisional front row, followed by Byrne, Jacobsen and Ellison.
But while all the fast lap’s were going on at the top of the timesheets, all the drama was happen at the bottom half of the timing screens, and the biggest casualty was Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Chris Walker.
The veteran rider was languishing in the drop zone for most of the session after spending some time in the pits, but he did a lap with two minutes remaining that placed him sixteenth fastest, but that was not to last and the likes of Jessopp, De Boer went quicker in the dying seconds of the session that pushed Walker into nineteenth and in to the drop zone.
Walker’s team-mate, Barry Burrell narrowly avoided joining Walker in the elimination spots. He was only one tenths of a second faster than his colleague and scrapped into Q2.
Halsall Racing’s Lee Costello, Two Wheel Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth and Stel Suzuki’s Aaron Zanotti were never able to make it out of the elimination places. Tsingtao WKbikes rider David Johnson was also another rider who failed to make it out of the top nineteen fastest times. The Aussie is standing in for the crocked Howie Mainwaring Smart, who broke his collarbone yesterday.
ELIMINATED
Chris Walker
Lee Costello
David Johnson
Aaron Zanotti
Jenny Tinmouth