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Oulton BSB: Wet last lap dash puts Haslam on pole

Qualifying three

Leon Haslam 1’43.663
James Ellison 1’44.085
Jason O’Halloran 1’44.153

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam pipped his team-mate James Ellison to snatch pole position, during the MCE British Superbike qualifying session in wet conditions at Oulton Park.

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Initially it was Ellison who looked like he would start from P1 for the opening race tomorrow, but a last lap dash from Haslam was faultless and the Smalley rider went sixth tenths quicker than the Kendal lad, to bag his second pole of the season so far.

Ellison lapped a 1’44.085 and will start on the front row, and is joined alongside Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran. The Australian missed out on P2 by just 0.1s, and out-paced his team-mate Dan Linfoot by the smallest of margins - 0.02s to be exact. Linfoot heads row two and is joined by the Tyco BMW duo of Christian Iddon and Michael Laverty, with RAF BMW’s Alastair Seeley starting row three.

Team WD-40 Kawasaki’s Jack Kennedy had a solid session on track and starts race one from eighth on the grid, with youngster Buildbase BMW’s Lee Jackson finishing the day as the ninth quickest rider.

Qualifying two

James Ellison 1’44.569
Christian Iddon 1’45.001
Jason O’Halloran 1’45.262

Ellison bagged the provisional pole position from Iddon - who left his best lap until last, with O’Halloran P3, but the biggest shock of the session came from Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne.

It was not a great session for Byrne, as while he was putting down his first flying lap of Q2 he high-sided at Hizzy’s. He was fortunately unhurt and tried to get his bike started again, but the left handlebar was snapped and he was not able to restart the session. Byrne will start race one from eighteenth on the grid tomorrow.

Joining Byrne in the drop zone is ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins. The American went wide on track and through a puddle but was able to hang on to the R1, and even though he tried his best to get into the top nine he could only get P15 at the flag.

Bennetts Suzuki’s Ryuichi Kiyonari only missed out on a place in Q3 but two tenths of a second and it was Kennedy who was able to proceed ahead. Kiyo’s team-mate Tommy Bridewell was another rider who’s qualifying session ended prematurely.

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Joining the Devizes swear box in the drop zone was Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper, Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Peter Hickman, McConnell and Dunlop.

Eliminated

Kiyonari
Bridewell
Cooper
Mossey
Hickman
Hopkins
McConnell
Dunlop
Byrne

Qualifying one

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Shane Byrne 1’45.473
Leon Haslam 1’45.505
James Ellison 1’45.917

Byrne was the quickest in the rain with a 1’45.473 time, with JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Haslam and Ellison completing the top three. The session started off with a red flag when the engine of Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin decided to go bang at Island and a lengthy delayed ensued as there was oil at turn three.

Irwin was unable to go back out to complete Q1 and has to start at the back of the grid for race one tomorrow. Moto Rapido Ducati’s Danny Buchan crashed unhurt at Knickerbrook and slipped back down the standings and out of the top eighteen fastest times, and was unable to progress in to the second qualifying session.

Buchan and Irwin were joined in the drop zone by Mainwaring, Backlund, Rispoli, Smrz, Jessopp, Tinmouth and Zanotti. ePayMe Yamaha’s Stuart Easton was unable to get out of the top twenty times and did not replicate his garage buddy, Hopkins by getting in to qualifying two.

Eliminated

Mainwaring
Backlund
Rispoli
Easton
Smrz
Jessopp
Buchan
Tinmouth
Zanotti
Winfield
Irwin

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