Oxford TAG Triumph's Richard Cooper stormed to his second Motorpoint British Supersport pole of the year, topping the time sheets by 0.899 of a second in a crash-strewn session.
The former Superstock 1000 champion was the early pace setter and continued to improve his lap times as the time ticked away. Smiths Triumph boxed out the remaining front row grid slots, with McConnell lining up ahead of the outgoing Supersport champion, Glen Richards.
T3 Racing's Luke Jones heads the second row of the gird despite crashing out at Clearways in the closing moments of the session. Alongside the Hereford rider will be Jason O'Halloran and championship contender Alastair Seeley. The pair will renew the rivalry started at Silverstone after they came together in the final race, leading to a penalty being handed to Seeley and consequently his championship deficit being increased to nineteen points.
Mar-Train Yamaha's Stuart Easton will be relieved to head the third row of the grid after the championship leader was struggling outside of the top ten for the majority of the session. Easton is joined on the third row by Tyco Suzuki's Taylor Mackenzie and Seton Yamaha's Danny Buchan.
Tenth down to thirteenth on the grid is covered by fallers with he first, Luke Mossey, crashing out at Graham Hill Bend with ten minutes of the session remaining. Mossey, the winner of the final race at Silverstone, will line up alongside Glenn Irwin and Graeme Gowland. CF Motorsport's Irwin also crashed out at Graham Hill Bend, whereas Gowland tumbled on the entry to Surtees.
Heading the fifth row should be Gearlink Kawasaki's Ben Wilson, however, the spud missile crashed out at Clearways at high speed and looked to be struggling as a result. He appeared to be in a lot of pain and was helped behind the barriers by two marshals. Wilson was taken to the medical centre and the extent of his injuries remains unknown at this moment.
