Qualifying three
Josh Brookes 1’14.464
John Hopkins 1’14.676
Luke Mossey 1’14.899
Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes will start on the number one spot on the grid for tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike race at Thruxton, after going under lap record pace with a 1’14.464.
PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne had his worst qualifying session all year, and failed to find the speed to make it out of Q2, and will start race one from P16.
Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins kept up his stellar form on the Panigale going into the final qualifying session and narrowly missed out on P1, by two tenths of a second.
It was a day of first’s for Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey, who will start on the front row for the first time in his BSB career, after a 1’14.899 - which was also under the circuit lap record of Gregorio Lavilla.
Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot heads up row two and is joined by JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison and RAF Reserves Peter Hickman. Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon cruised into the third row, with Cooper and Buchan at his side.
Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring experienced a technical problem and never made it out of the garage and has to start from tenth on the grid on Sunday.
Qualifying two
John Hopkins 1’14.588
Christian Iddon 1’14.851
Peter Hickman 1’14.909
For the first time this year PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne was unable to make it out of Q2 to challenge for a front row start, and will start the opening race from P16 on the grid.
But he was not the only superstar who failed to progress into Q3; the Tyco BMW’s of Tommy Bridewell and Michael Laverty couldn’t push their S1000RR’s into the top ten on the sheets, alongside Westmoreland, Hutchinson and Jackson.
Backlund also could not emulate his quick pace from Q1 and found himself in the elimination zone with Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy and Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Chris Walker.
But it was a good session for Hopkins, Iddon and Hickman who made up the top three fastest times, with the American lapping under lap record pace with a 1’14.588.
Q2 was red-flagged after Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran clipped the back end of Howie Mainwaring, and came tumbling down at Noble. With seven minutes remaining to the session the Australian was taken to the medical centre for further assessment.
The incident between the two riders is now under investigation. But O’Halloran is in his way to hospital after suffering a broken right femur.
Eliminated
Bridewell
Kennedy
Walker
Westmoreland
Backlund
O’Halloran
Byrne
Hutchinson
Jackson
Laverty
Qualifying one
Luke Mossey 1’15.228
Jason O’Halloran 1’15.338
Filip Backlund 1’15.379
Mossey was the stand out rider in Q1, with O’Halloran having a late resurgence of form to take P1 and P2 on the sheets. An impressive Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s Filip Backlund also made up the provisional front row, with a 1’15.379.
The biggest shock of the session was Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, who failed to make it into the top twenty fastest times, and even a last lap dash was not enough to pull the triple-champ into Q2 - now he will start from 22nd on the race one grid.
Bridewell was dangerously close to not progressing and was teetering on the edge of the drop zone, but managed to cling on to twentieth quickest overall.
Those who were not so lucky included; Bennetts Suzuki’s Josh Water, Riders BMW’s Martin Jessopp, the returning Barry Burrell onboard the Gearlink Kawasaki machine, and Mackenzie. Winfield, Zanotti and Metcher also failed to make it out of the elimination spots.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s stand-in rider, Adam Jenkinson tried to bring the R1 on par with team-mate Brookes, but couldn’t manage a time that was good enough to go through to the second qualifying outing.
There was a red flag after one minute of track activity, when Smiths Racing’s Billy McConnell experienced a technical issue with his S1000RR and oil and smoke bellowed onto the track. He came to an abrupt stop at the Chicane, bringing a premature end to his qualifying session.
Eliminated
Waters
Kiyonari
Jessopp
Jenkinson
Burrell
Mackenzie
Winfield
Zanotti
Metcher
McConnell
