Qualifying three
Scott Redding –1’47.323
Tarran Mackenzie –1’47.432
Tommy Bridewell –1’47.730
Be Wiser Ducati’s Scott Redding extended his dominant run of form after scorching to pole position in today’s Bennetts British Superbike qualifying.
The practice pace-setter carried his momentum from yesterday and this morning’s sessions to beat Tarran Mackenzie to his second pole of the year.
But just after Redding and FS-3 Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan had clocked the only flying laps of Q3, Smith’s Racing man Peter Hickman brought out the red flags as he dumped his BMW at the exit of Murray’s with just under four minutes to go.
After a few minutes in waiting as marshals inspected track conditions, riders headed back out but with just a few laps remaining, it was a desperate dash for grid positions.
But no one could beat Redding as he bettered his time by a few hundredths to bolster his pole standing with McAMS Yamaha’s Mackenzie just over a tenth behind, as Oxford Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell completing the front row.
Josh Brookes narrowly missed out on a front row start after his late flyer after the chequered flag as he will head up the row next to Santander Salt Tag Racing’s Dan Linfoot and Honda Racing’s Xavi Fores.
Buchan, Andrew Irwin and Hickman complete row three after the TT star was unable to set a time.
Qualifying two
Scott Redding – 1’47.183
Tarran Mackenzie – 1’47.328
Josh Brookes – 1’47.645
After leading Q1, Redding shot back to the top of the times with his first flyer, but only briefly as Mackenzie knocked him back to second before Brookes clocked his first 1’47 of the weekend to go fastest.
But Redding was straight back to the top on his next lap with a 1’47.644 to nudge his team-mate back to second before going even quicker with a 1’47.183, just a few hundredths off the lap record.
Mackenzie moved up into second just before Bridewell jumped up to fourth, but the session was over for Irwin as he dropped his Honda at Murrays.
Despite a late charge, local man Luke Mossey lost out by just over a quarter of a second as the OMG Suzuki missed the cut for Q3.
Eliminated
Ray
Stapleford
Mossey
Laverty
Barbera
Iddon
Elliott
Francis
Currie
Qualifying one
Scott Redding – 1’48.145
Josh Brookes – 1’48.203
Tarran Mackenzie – 1’48.252
Redding clocked the quickest time early on with a low 1’49 ahead of Irwin and Jason O’Halloran, but the Australian’s session was over moments later as he dropped his McAMS Yamaha at Agostini.
Irwin scorched back to the top of the times as he, Mossey and Linfoot nudged Redding back to fourth before the series leader shot back to the top.
Fellow Ducati man Bridewell launched himself into the top three, just 0.009s off Irwin in second with seven minutes to go, just before Mackenzie moved even closer to Redding – within 0.107s of the pace-setter.
With just over a minute to go, Currie jumped up nine places to 14th to slot into Q2 contention moments before Ellison moved just inside of the safety zone to go 17th quickest ahead of local man Vickers.
But Iddon and Elliot moved up to 10th and 11th after the chequered flag flew, knocking both Ellison and Vickers out.
Eliminated
Ellison
Vickers
O’Halloran
Corti
Truelove
Allingham
Harrison
Winfield
Coventry
Rogers
Kent
Hipwell
