Qualifying three

Tommy Hill 48.785

Josh Brookes 49.114

Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill has taken his third British Superbike pole position of the 2012 season this afternoon at a damp Knockhill, just seeing off a challenge from Michael Laverty who tipped off his Samsung Honda on his final flying lap at Scotsman which necessitated a yellow flag.

The Samsung Honda man was only seven one-hundredths slower than the reigning champion and were the only two make it under the 49s barrier. Josh Brookes put his Tyco Honda on the outside of the front row on a grid that is made up of three bikes per row at this track for this year.

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki's Shane Byrne heads the second row with Irishman Ian Lowry next to him. Noriyuki Haga occupies the final second-row spot after his second-session heroics with Graeme Gowland, Tommy Bridewell, James Westmoreland and Alastair Seeley rounding out the top ten.

Qualifying two

Noriyuki Haga 49.597

Michael Laverty 49.665

Haga pulled off an escape act worthy of Harry Houdini in the second session. After crashing at the end of the first session, his crew had to clean and square up his R1 while the Japanese rider underwent a swift medical. He came out with five minutes left as rain started, went into 15th, then into the top ten before ousting team-mate Hill for top spot with his final lap.

Byrne squeaked in by the skin of his teeth after being among the front runners in the first session while Alex Lowes was the only WFR Honda to not make it through to the final ten riders. Chris Walker will start from the middle of row six even though he has two badly beaten up heels courtesy of his monster highside yesterday.

ELIMINATED

Alex Lowes

Michael Rutter

Barry Burrell

Luca Scassa

Jon Kirkham

Luke Quigley

Chris Walker

Patric Muff

Tristan Palmer

James Hiller

Qualifying one

Michael Laverty 49.707

Tommy Hill 49.852

Laverty set the fastest time on a rapidly drying track in Scotland and had a clear lead until Lowes put in a run of laps to bag second place with reigning champion Hill in third. Hill's team-mate Noriyuki Haga managed to qualify for the second session despite a late crash at Clarks while Brookes was in the top five for the whole session, so was looking consistent.

At the other end, Moto Rapido's Scott Smart was just pushed into the drop zone by a fast lap by the injured Walker while Quigley also rescued himself with his final circulation. Muff also made it through by the skin of his teeth while team-mate Bridewell didn't make it out until halfway through the session as all the electric had gone off in his garage and the tyre warmers were stone cold…

ELIMINATED

Scott Smart

John Laverty

Florian Marino

Peter Hickman

Aaron Zanotti

Freddy Foray

Tom Tunstall

Jenny Tinmouth

Abdulaziz Binladin

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