Qualifying three

Alex Lowes 1’34.884

Josh Brookes 1’35.784

Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes will start the MCE British Superbike race at Oulton Park tomorrow on pole position and he did it in style, with an impressive time of 1’34.884, the fastest ever with the current technical specifications.

The Lincolnshire rider topped every single one of the qualifying sessions and Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne could not match the times made by the youngster and the current champ will start from second on the grid after clocking a lap time of 1’35.344. But Byrne is not the only Rapid Solicitors bike on the front row, Keith Farmer finished the final qualifying session in fourth and takes the final spot on the front row.

Tyco Suzuki rider Josh Brookes was not going to let the Englishmen spoil his day, and was consistent throughout the qualifiers and will start tomorrow’s first race in a comfortable third position.

Buildbase BMW’s Jon Kirkham heads the second row, followed closely by Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Chris Walker. Bathams Honda’s Tommy Bridewell completed his mission for the day and made it into the top ten and will start in seventh. Lloyds British GBmoto rider Peter Hickman just made it on to the second row, after narrowly avoiding elimination in Q2.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison never made it out for the final qualifying session, after suffering oil pressure issues on his bike, meaning he will have a lot of work to do in the race on Monday to battle for a podium place, as he starts from the third row of the grid.

Qualifying two

Alex Lowes 1’35.285

James Ellison 1’36.046

A last lap dash from Lloyds British GBmoto’s Peter Hickman saved him from the drop zone in the final seconds of Q2. The rider was languishing in thirteenth place, but managed to de-place Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland who was initially safe in tenth, but ended up facing elimination.

PR Racing’s Karl Harris was also lucky to make it into Q1, and only just made it through after rounding off the top ten. Former triple champ Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari could only manage fourteenth and was never in the top ten throughout the twelve minute session. Former World Superbike rider Padgett's Honda's Jakub Smrz also never made it into the Q1 places, neither did Australian rookie Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Waters.

ELIMINATED

James Westmoreland

PJ Jacobsen

Jakub Smrz

Ryuichi Kiyonari

Tristan Palmer

Howie Mainwaring

Josh Waters

Robbin Harms

Qualifying one

Alex Lowes 1’35.494

Josh Brookes 1’36.246

Bathams Honda rider Michael Rutter did not have the start he would have wanted for his 400th MCE British Superbike race, after he failed to make it into Q2. The first qualifying session turned out to be a crash-fest with Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan being the first to hit the gravel after three laps at Old Hall corner, quickly followed by Riders Motorcycles BMW Martin Jessop who’s session ended when he dropped his bike at Britton, when he was hovering around  eighteenth place.

Two Wheel Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth was never in contention of progressing into Q2 and crashed her Honda while she was in twentieth position at Cascades. Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was teetering near the elimination zone for most of the twenty minute session, but managed to pull his way up the time-sheets, overtaking Doodson Motorsports Robbin Harms in the process, and the Danish rider just scrapped into Q2.

ELIMINATED

Michael Rutter

Martin Jessop

Matteo Baiocco

Danny Buchan

Lee Costello

Aaron Zanotti

Jenny Tinmouth

Michael Howarth

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