Danny Buchan will line up in pole position for this afternoon’s opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Silverstone after claiming top spot in a qualifying session that was twice stopped due to crashes.
The first of those saw Graeme Irwin come to grief leaving debris on the track but when it was re-started, it was only two minutes old when the red flag was out again after six riders – Lee Jackson, Alex Olsen, Taylor Mackenzie, Hector Barbera, Storm Stacey and Josh Owens – crashed on oil at turn one, believed to have come from Barbera’s BMW. Olsen has been flown to Coventry Hospital for treatment.
With two thirds of the session completed, the results were declared and that meant Buchan’s lap of 53.229s on the Rapid Fulfillment Kawasaki was good enough for the top spot, his lap seeing him move up from 11th to first just before the second red flag came out.
He pushed Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati) down to second by 0.177s, the Australian having moved up to first place moments earlier. Their quick laps meant long time leader Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) had to settle for third and the outside of the front row.
The late laps of Buchan and Brookes meant the Honda Racing duo of Andrew and Glenn Irwin dropped back to the second row where there’ll be joined by Bradley Ray on the Synetiq BMW.
Second to sixth were covered by just 0.067s and it was equally close on the third row where Kyle Ryde (Buildbase Suzuki) will be joined by Jackson and Barbera although the last two named will have a race against time to be on the grid after their crash particularly Jackson whose Rapid Fulfillment Kawasaki cartwheeled across the gravel trap at high speed.
Barbera’s team-mate Luke Mossey completed the top ten on the OMG Rich Energy BMW but it was a disaster for current Championship runner-up Tommy Bridewell.
The Oxford Products Racing Ducati rider was black flagged in the morning’s free practice session and he missed the first eight minutes of qualifying as the team sought to get to the bottom of their technical issues.
He got out on track but failed to register a time due to the red flags and will start from last on the grid for the 25-lap race.
