Bradley Perie claimed pole position for the opening race of the 2021 Quattro Group British Supersport Championship season with the Appleyard Macadam rider lapping the Oulton Park circuit in 1m38.494s in Saturday morning’s qualifying session.

That put him 0.089s clear of Jack Kennedy (DB Race Services Kawasaki) with the Dubliner crashing out on his final lap just as it looked like he’d go quickest. Ben Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki) completed the front row in third.

It was Perie who set the pace for the first half of the 25-minute session and he was the first rider to dip below the 1m39s bracket with a lap of 1m38.903s. At almost exactly the halfway stage though, Kennedy hit the top spot by more than three tenths of a second.

With six minutes of the session remaining, Perie reclaimed the top spot with a lap of 1m38.494s which gave him provisional pole from Kennedy by just 0.089s.

However, former double champion Kennedy wasn’t to be outdone and he started his final lap with clear intent just before the chequered flag came out. He set the fastest times in sectors 1 and 2 and was on course for pole only to crash out uninjured at Hizzy’s.

Currie was six tenths further back in third and a late flying lap from Korie McGreevy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) saw him jump to fourth, just one tenth of a second ahead of fellow Ulsterman Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha).

Mason Law took sixth on the Spirit Motocorsa machine and he was the quickest of the GP2 Cup competitors, two places ahead of team-mate Jamie Perrin.

Sandwiched in between was American Brandon Paasch on the Dynavolt Triumph and the late action meant it was Harry Truelove (Truelove Brothers Racing Yamaha) and Rhys Irwin on the second Appleyard Macadam Yamaha who rounded out the top ten.

A number of quick laps in the second half of the session had elevated Scott Swann (IFS Yamaha) briefly up to fourth but he tipped off at Brittens in the closing minutes and slipped back to 12th overall.

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