Qualifying three
Shane Byrne 1’34.469
Tommy Bridewell 1’34.865
James Ellison 1’35.073
PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne will start the opening MCE British Superbike race at Oulton Park from pole position, after a 1’34.469 was good enough to cement his place on the number one spot on the grid.
The reigning champ was half a second under his own lap record at the Cheshire track, and successfully held off the charge from Tyco BMW’s Tommy Bridewell who also lapped inside the 1’34’s and will take up P2 in a few hours time, during this triple-header weekend.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes was blighted by an engine problem in Q1 and when he was on the out-lap realised that there was an issue, and quickly went back to the garage, and the shutters went down and remained closed.
The team had to put in a new engine ahead of the first race this afternoon, but it will be a battle for the Bringelly rider as he will have to fight through the pack to try and bag some podium credits from 30th on the grid.
"With the engine I knew from the sound of it that something was terminal. The most frustrating thing was that I reached six laps this morning in FP3, but I needed to do seven, and if I did one more then we would have known there was a problem with the engine - and we would have been able to change it before qualifying. But we still have a step up of luck being here earlier in the year and we will be going on knowledge now," said Brookes, at the track.
It was a very brave ride by JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison who is still in a lot of pain after breaking his wrist at Thruxton two rounds ago, but managed to battle through to lap a 1’35.073 to complete the front row.
Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan heads up row two, alongside Smiths Racing’s Billy McConnell and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey. Solid rides place Kennedy, Iddon and Linfoot on row three.
A technical problem meant that Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins will start on row four. The Panigale rider went wide at Cascades and was unable to get the machine working again.
Qualifying two
Shane Byrne 1’34.868
John Hopkins 1’35.061
Dan Linfoot 1’35.104
Byrne was the only rider to lap inside the 1’34’s to top the timesheets, ahead of Hopkins and Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot, who made up the provisional front row.
PBM Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton is still recovering from a broken left ankle and right tibia, but he crashed at Cascades. He appeared OK at the trackside but unfortunately hadn’t done enough to challenge for pole, but was given the green light to take part in race one by the medical staff.
Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon’s last lap dash paid off and he went from just outside the top ten to eighth, but Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty was the victim and was pushed down to eleventh.
The Wales-based rider was not the only one who lost out; the entire Buildbase BMW team failed to make it into Q1, with Cooper, Kiyonari and Jackson all outside the top ten.
Mainwaring, Westmoreland, Jessopp, Backlund and Waters also did not make it into the final qualifying session.
Eliminated
Laverty
Cooper
Mainwaring
Jackson
Westmoreland
Jessopp
Kiyonari
Backlund
Waters
Easton
Qualifying one
Luke Mossey 1’25.558
Tommy Bridewell 1’35.600
John Hopkins 1’35.631
Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey set the pace in Q1, but the biggest shock was Josh Brookes. He went out for one lap and then went back into the garage and the shutters came swiftly down, and the Australian rider failed to make it back out in Q1 and starts race one from row ten.
Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Chris Walker was close to going though to Q2, but the housewives favourite, who will start his 300th race later today was pipped to the post by Backlund and was 0.1s off progressing through to the second qualifying outing.
RAF Reserves Peter Hickman was the first rider to hit the deck. He crashed at Island, but managed to walk away, but was taken to the medical centre for further assessment. He understandably did not go back out to do more laps, and stayed in the drop zone.
Joining Hickman was Team WD-40’s Taylor Mackenzie, Winfield, Metcher, Zanotti and Ingram. Honda Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth also failed to set a time quick enough for a Q2 spot, as did substitute rider, Julien Da Costa. The French World Endurance rider is standing-in for the injured Jason O’Halloran, and will start from 23rd on the grid.
Eliminated
Walker
Mackenzie
Da Costa
Hickman
Winfield
Metcher
Zanotti
Ingram
Tinmouth
Brookes
