Qualifying three
Alex Lowes 1'14.891
John Hopkins 1'14.907
Tommy Hill 1'14.913
MSS Colchester Kawasaki's Alex Lowes has made a dream start to his British Superbike debut, grabbing pole position this afternoon at Thruxton ahead of John Hopkins and Tommy Hill as series leader Shane Byrne crashed out in the first session (see below).
Lowes' lap was the second fastest of the weekend, set with only two minutes left to run and Swan Yamaha's Hill, who was fastest in session two, had no reply. Veteran Michael Rutter finished in fourth and rounds out the front row.
Tyco Honda's Peter Hickman is at the head of row two with Ryuichi Kiyonari in sixth, Michael Laverty seventh and Loris Baz eighth. Big mates James Westmoreland and Dan Linfoot complete the top ten.
Qualifying two
Tommy Hill 1'14.574
Peter Hickman 1'15.017
Alex Lowes 1'15.063
Hill went underneath Gregorio Lavilla's long-standing lap record of 1'14.890 with his quickest lap and was the only man into the 1'14s bracket. Hickman went second with his last run and that was enough to put Lowes into third place.
Relentless Suzuki's Josh Brookes stopped with a technical problem on his final lap and didn't make the cut so will start in 14th place. The Samsung Suzuki of Jon Kirkham also didn't get through and neither did Gary Mason, who has struggled for grip all weekend.
ELIMINATED
Chris Walker
Martin Jessopp
Jon Kirkham
Josh Brookes
Ian Lowry
Glen Richards
Graeme Gowland
Tommy Bridewell
Gary Mason
Steve Brogan
Qualifying one
Ryuichi Kiyonari 1'15.153
Michael Laverty 1'15.449
Peter Hickman 1'15.480
HM Plant Honda's Shane Byrne was the first big name to slip out of qualifying, crashing at Club on his first flying lap and damaging his wrist but not suffering any broken bones. He didn't make it out so will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.
Team-mate Kiyonari set the fastest lap of the session right at the beginning while Laverty only just pushed Hickman into third place by just 0.031s. Mason, Kirkham and Brogan made it in by the skin of their respective teeth and a late lap by Bridewell pushed Simon Andrews and birthday boy Scott Smart into the drop zone.
ELIMINATED
Simon Andrews
Scott Smart
John Labverty
Barry Burrell
Aaron Zanotti
Craig Fitzpatrick
Patric Muff
James Hillier
Hudson Kennaugh
Tom Tunstall
Dan Kneen
Josh Day
Shane Byrne
