Qualifying three
Josh Brookes 1’34.946
Tommy Bridewell 1’34.960
Stuart Easton 1’35.006
Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes will start the first MCE British Superbike race at Oulton Park tomorrow on pole, after a 1’34.946 - going five tenths under his own lap record at the Cheshire circuit.
The Australian was never outside the top three fastest times throughout all three qualifying sessions and had the pace to challenge for the number one spot on the grid from title rivals Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari and PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne. The pair were inside the top three times for Q2 and Q1 but couldn’t manage to find that extra pace to get on the front row, as that went to Tyco BMW’s Tommy Bridewell and PBM’s Stuart Easton.
Kiyo and Byrne were pushed down to the second row in the final minutes of Q3 and are joined by JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison. Only Brookes and Bridewell reached the 1’34’s with 0.014 seconds separating the pair, with Easton a tenth off the Devizes rider but still did enough to out-pace his team-mate to grab the final spot on row one.
It was a good qualifying session for the Tyco BMW team as it was the first time that both riders made it into the final qualifying outing. Northern Irishman Michael Laverty had his best qualifying result of the season and will start race one tomorrow from the third row, and is sandwiched between Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran and Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan. Smiths BMW’s Billy McConnell heads up row four.
Qualifying two
Shane Byrne 1’35.056
Ryuichi Kiyonari 1’35.068
Josh Brookes 1’35.171
The lap times came tumbling down from the second qualifying outing, with Byrne once again taking the fastest rider accolade, followed by Kiyonari and Brookes.
But rain did start to fall in sector two and three with only a handful of minutes remaining to the session, but that did not appear to startle the riders. Kiyo did try and help his younger Buildbase BMW team-mate Lee Jackson with a tow, but to no avail as Jackson couldn’t pull his S1000RR out of the elimination spot, and stayed 20th on the starting grid.
Joining Jackson in the drop zone was Moto Rapid Ducati’s Jakub Smrz, Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s Richard Cooper and veteran racer Chris Walker. Some of the Australian continent also failed to make it into Q3, including Milwaukee Yamaha’s Broc Parkes and Bennetts Suzuki’s Josh Waters. Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring also failed to make it into the top ten fastest times. Laverty and McConnell held on by the narrowest of margins to make it into Q3.
Eliminated
Walker
Mainwaring
Smrz
Cooper
Kennedy
Parkes
Jessopp
Waters
Backlund
Jackson
Qualifying one
Shane Byrne 1’35.333
Ryuichi Kiyonari 1’35.503
Josh Brookes 1’35.614
Byrne was the quickest rider in the opening qualifying outing at the Cheshire circuit and went faster than his best time he set in FP1 yesterday with a 1’35.333. Kiyo and Brookes also lapped in the 1’35 barrier and completed the top three times in Q1.
JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Westmoreland missed out on Q2 by one tenth of a second from Backlund, even though the quiet Yorkshireman was in the provisional second qualifying session for the majority of the outing, he ended up slipping back to 21st and out of contention for Q2.
Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon is still recovering from a broken leg and even though he was pushing hard he couldn’t make it out of the top twenty and was joined in the drop zone by Taylor Mackenzie, Michael Rutter and Robbin Harms.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey attempted a last lap dash and was the last rider out on track, but it was no use as he couldn’t move out of 22nd on the sheets.
RAF Reserves BMW’s Peter Hickman was missing from proceedings after being deemed unfit for the rest of the BSB race weekend. He broke two ribs and is still having scans to determine the extent of his injuries after a crash in FP2 yesterday, in wet conditions.
Eliminated
Westmoreland
Mossey
Mackenzie
Iddon
Rutter
Harms
Cox
Hutchinson
Winfield
Zanotti
