Qualifying one

James Westmoreland 1’29.726

James Ellison 1’30.038

Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland stormed to his maiden MCE British Superbike pole, his first front row start of the season and smashed the previous lap record set last year with his 1’29.726 lap.

It was originally Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne who initially was the fastest rider out on track. Then with three minutes remaining of the session Westmoreland went even quicker and was able to hold off a last lap charge from Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes.

The Derby rider appeared on course to start from pole, but in the end he went two tenths of a second slower than the Hull rider and will start race one tomorrow from second on the grid. Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison rounds up row one.

But it will be the first time Byrne fails to start a race from the front row as he could not improve on his 1’30.171 lap. The reigning champ heads up row two and he will be joined by Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes and Halsall Racing’s Tommy Bridewell. The Devizes swearbox could not challenge for pole as he crashed out at Goddards.

Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Chris Walker, Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen, Showdown contender Jon Kirkham and Padgett’s rider Jakub Smrz round off the top ten.

Qualifying two

James Ellison 1’30.009

Shane Byrne 1’30.106

Ellison went to the top of the timesheets with two minutes left of Q2, pushing Brookes off provisional pole. Byrne improved from his previous outing to go third fastest with a 1’30.106.

It was not a good session for Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari. He tried in vain to get into the top ten quickest times, in order to progress into Q3 and have a chance of a front row start, but could not improve from twelfth on the timesheets. The Japanese rider has not secured his place in the Showdown and will have to start race one tomorrow from the fourth row.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Waters narrowly missed out joining his team-mate into Q3, as he ended the session in eleventh. Bathams Honda rider Michael Rutter, GBmoto’s Dan Linfoot and Tsingtao WKbikes Performance rider Howie Mainwaring Smart were never in contention of progressing into Q3.

There were some fallers during the second qualifying session. First GBmoto’s Peter Hickman crashed at Redgate on his out lap, then minutes later Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Keith Farmer went into the gravel at Starkeys on his first lap and was taken to the medical centre.

ELIMINATED

Josh Waters

Ryuichi Kiyonari

Michael Rutter

Dan Linfoot

Barry Burrell

Howie Mainwaring Smart

Keith Farmer

Peter Hickman

Qualifying one

Tommy Bridewell 1’30.295

James Ellison 1’30.664

Bridewell toppled Lowes off the top of the first qualifying timesheets, to clock his best time of 1’30.295, to firmly place himself in provisional pole. Ellison was only two tenths of a second off Lowes’ time to place him at the sharp end.

But all the action was at the bottom half of the table. Mainwaring, Kiyonari and Burrell were dangerously close to failing to progress into Q2. PR Racing’s Karl Harris was hovering around the eighteenth and seventeenth place on the timesheets and was dangerously close to the elimination zone.

But last lap dashes from Burrell and Mainwaring pushed Harris and Rapido Sport Racing’s Matteo Baiocco in to the drop zone.

Halsall Racing’s Lee Costello did appear to have a good enough race pace to place to push the rider into Q2, but he could not improve on his early lap times and ended the session in 21st place.

Riders BMW’s Martin Jessopp, STEL Racing’s Aaron Zanotti, Two Wheel Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth and Quelch Motorsport’s Jamie Poole never made it out of the elimination places and failed to progress into Q2.

ELIMINATED

Karl Harris

Matteo Baiocco

Lee Costello

Martin Jessopp

Aaron Zanotti

Jenny Tinmouth

Jamie Poole

Click here for times