Alex Lowes made the perfect start to his home round at Cadwell Park by claiming pole position for the first race on Bank Holiday Monday. The Samsung Honda rider was in blistering form, topping all three sessions before beating Shane Byrne to pole by over half a second.
Lowes has already secured his place in the championship showdown but with podium credits up for grabs, as well as the incentive of a home victory, the Lincolnshire rider is fired up for tomorrow’s double header.
“All of the fans here are worth half a second a lap to me but as good as it is to be on pole, it does not count for anything as the races are what matters tomorrow. I know that they will be hard, but I am going to get a good early night to be ready for them and then will be giving everything.”
Byrne currently has twelve podium credits in hand over Lowes and Josh Brookes but the series leader admits he hasn’t had the smoothest of weekends so far.
“We have been chipping away but I still feel like we are a session behind so we have a bit still to do in morning warm up and then it should be good for the races tomorrow, especially as there should be a huge crowd here.”
James Ellison enters the weekend mindful that a showdown spot can be secured with a positive showing. Should the Milwaukee Yamaha rider outscore James Westmoreland by nine points on Monday, a top six place will be his and starting from third on the grid, Ellison could take a sizeable step towards the showdown in race one.
PJ Jacobsen’s late bid for a top six place continues to gather momentum with the American qualifying fourth for a place on the second row ahead of Tommy Bridewell and Ryuichi Kiyonari. Josh Brookes has work to do from seventh on the grid but not as much as Jon Kirkham who will have to defend his sixth place in the championship from eighteenth on the grid.
