Qualifying three
Shane Byrne - 1’35.724
James Ellison - 1’36.313
Leon Haslam - 1’36.348
Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne stormed to his fiftieth pole position of his MCE British Superbike career, and he did it in style by setting the fastest ever BSB lap around the Assen circuit.
The Panigale racer lapped a record breaking 1’35.724, and went two tenths faster than the previous outright record that was held by reigning champ, Josh Brookes. Also the lap time would have put Byrne second on the World Superbike grid.
Joining Byrne on the front row is JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison. The Showdown rider was half a second off the hot lap of Byrne, but his strong 1’36.313 means he secures his spot on the front row. Ellison’s team-mate, Leon Haslam put down a 1’36.348, making it two ZX-10R’s on row one for the first race on Sunday.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey missed out on the front row by 0.01 seconds, but heads row two alongside fellow title challenger’s Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot.
Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper, ePayMe Yamaha’s Broc Parkes and Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon make up the third row. There were crashes for Linfoot and Iddon, but both walked away from their separate incidences on track. The Fireblade rider fell unhurt at Ossebroeken, with the S1000RR making it in the gravel at turn five.
Qualifying two
Shane Byrne - 1’36.068
Christian Iddon - 1’36.460
Luke Mossey - 1’36.557
In a repeat of Q1 it was Byrne who lapped the fastest time, with an impressive 1’36.068. He led the charge out on track with Iddon 0.4s shy of the Ducati man’s time, with Mossey once again rounding off the top three.
Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty pushed hard out on the Dutch circuit, but missed out by the smallest of margins of making it into the final qualifying outing. He needed to lap 0.008 seconds faster to make it into the top nine on the timesheets, and could not better the time set by Showdown rider, Dan Linfoot.
Smiths Racing’s Jakub Smrz had a positive opening qualifying and looked on course of making it all the way to Superpole, but a crash at De Bult with five minutes remaining meant that he was unable to improve his time and will start race one tomorrow from fifteenth on the grid.
Gearlink Kawasaki’s Vittorio Iannuzzo did not lap a time quick enough to go through to Q3, but he did have his best qualifying session of the season, and will start fourteenth for the opening race tomorrow in Assen.
ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins has been on pole at the TT track back in his MotoGP days, but this was to elude the American today. He joins Laverty in the drop zone, alongside Irwin, Bridewell, Jessopp, McConnell and Jackson.
Eliminated
Laverty
Hopkins
Irwin
Bridewell
Iannuzzo
Smrz
Jessopp
McConnell
Jackson
Qualifying one
Shane Byrne 1’36.829
Leon Haslam 1’36.990
Luke Mossey 1’37.024
Byrne set the pace during the opening qualifying session, with Haslam a tenth off best lap of the series leader. Fellow Showdown rider, Mossey completed the provisional front row.
It was a day of first’s for Gearlink Kawasaki’s Vittorio Iannuzzo as he made it through to Q2 for the first time this season. He went one tenth of a second quicker than Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s James Rispoli and that was enough for the Italian to progress, and subsequently the American ended up in the danger zone.
It was not the best of sessions for JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Peter Hickman. The road racer experienced a technical problem and he fell into the drop zone and was out of contention for a place in Q2.
Joining Hickman was three-time champ, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Team WD-40’s Josh Hook, Seeley, Backlund, Hutchinson, Tinmouth, Wainwright and Winfield.
Moto Rapido Ducati’s newest recruit, Alex Polita could not make it out of the elimination spots and did not set a time that pulled him into the top nineteen on the timing-screens.
Eliminated
Rispoli
Hickman
Kiyonari
Hook
Polita
Seeley
Backlund
Hutchinson
Zanotti
Tinmouth
Wainwright
Winfield
