Qualifying three

Shane Byrne 1’35.463

Dan Linfoot 1’35.856

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne will start from pole for the first MCE British Superbike race at Oulton Park this afternoon after he out-paced Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes by a half a tenth.

Byrne left it till his last hot lap to take the number one spot on the starting grid, ahead of the Bringelly rider. Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot finds himself on the front row for the second race meeting in succession after a 1’35.856 was enough to place him third fastest, just ahead of Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell.

But on Brookes and Byrne’s final lap a cat made its way on to the circuit and was narrowly missed by the leading pair. But the Bringelly rider was put off by the incident and it could be argued that it cost him pole.

Team WD-40’s Barry Burrell had his best qualifying session of the season so far after a 1’36.105 – and will start race one from the second row, alongside GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker.

Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins, RAF Reserves Honda’s Peter Hickman and Millsport Ducati’s Jakub Smrz complete row three. The former World Superbike contender fell at Lodge Corner but managed to walk away from the crash.

Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari's team were literally in a race against time to get his bike back out on track after an earlier crash in Q2. He made it out to do his out-lap but was ten seconds too slow to get around before the chequered flag appeared, and missed out on putting down a time - meaning the triple champ will start from the fourth row.

Qualifying two

Josh Brookes 1’35.496

Brookes made his way back up top the top of the timesheets after a 1’35.496 rotation, but Byrne was never far off the pace – five tenths to be exact, to bag the provisional front row spot.

Kiyonari was on course for his fastest lap of the weekend so far, but he crashed at Brittens with three minutes remaining, while third fastest overall. But seconds later PR Racing’s Keith Farmer crashed in exactly the same place, leaving him out of contention to progress into the final qualifying outing.

On track a Tyco Suzuki battle ensued, with both riders, John Hopkins and Josh Waters both fighting for a place in Q1. At first it was the Australian who was the quicker of the pair, and was teetering in tenth, but a 1’36.261 by Hopkins just as the flag came out meant that the Aussie was bumped down to eleventh - with the American making his way to fifth.

Hickman was in danger of not making it into Q3, but a last lap dash certainty paid off, as in the final second he went from 12th up to eighth on his RAF Reserves backed Honda.

FFX Yamaha’s Ian Hutchinson crashed on only his out-lap at Old Hall after a high-side – putting a very premature end to his Q2 session. But he managed to walk away from the incident, but was taken to the medical centre for a check up.

Eliminated

Rutter

Waters

Jessopp

Richards

Mainwaring

Easton

Muff

Farmer

Ingram

Hutchinson

Qualifying one

Ryuichi Kiyonari 1’35.723

Tommy Bridewell 1’36.576

Kiyonari was the rider who was at the sharp-end for the first qualifying session, and out-paced both Milwaukee Yamaha bikes of Brookes and Bridewell.

Easton was dangerously close to not going through to Q2 as he ended the session in 19th, just ahead of Morello Racing’s John Ingram. Anvil Hire Tag Racing’s stand-in rider Scott Smart only missed out on going into the second qualifying outing by four tenths of a second, and a final flying lap was not enough to better his best time of 1’37.915. But he was only two seconds off the best lap of Kiyonari – so it is not too shabby for the veteran.

His team-mate Glen Richards faired a little better, and set a time that was good enough to go into Q2, after making it to 18th on the sheets. Buildbase BMW’s substitute rider Lee Jackson tried hard to better his pace – but he couldn’t and stayed in the elimination spots.

The youngster is doubling up this weekend, as he is still competing in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 class. Jackson was joined in the drop zone by Tinmouth, Zanotti, Mason and Wilson.

Bathams BMW’s Michael Rutter crashed at Lodge Corner, but appeared OK at the track, while he was seventh fastest overall with 12 minutes remaining. Halsall Racing’s Jon Kirkham will start race one from the very back of the grid as his team were unable to fix his bike in time for the qualifying session, after a fall during FP3 earlier this morning.

Eliminated

Smart

Jackson

Tinmouth

Zanotti

Mason

Wilson

Ponsson

Lo Turco

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