JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison missed out on pole by the smallest of margins during today’s MCE British Superbike qualifying sessions at Donington Park, and after pushing as hard as he could he placed his bike second on the starting grid – but he could not dethrone Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari from P1 this afternoon.
In Q2 Ellison really upped his game and was riding high in the provisional pole position, only for Kiyo to go 0.03 seconds quicker in the final qualifying session of the day, knocking the Kendal native from the top spot.
Ellison gave it all he could, but felt a tad disappointed that he could not find that extra pace to bag his first pole of 2015. But he knows that this is the only the start of the season, and that race-day is where it counts.
“Kiyo has been strong all weekend, but I pushed as hard as I could and that was all I had so that was the disappointment really – not being able to find a bit more time,” said Ellison, speaking at the circuit.
“In reality it is the first round of the season, and the team have kept me onboard from last year, and we have come away from the first round starting in second on the grid – and now I am looking forward to the races tomorrow.”
