British Superbike

Byrne Strikes Late To Snatch Oulton Park Pole

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Shane Byrne stole pole position from under the nose of Josh Brookes with a stunning last gasp effort in qualifying at Oulton Park. The pair were closely matched throughout the pole position shootout and as the two circulated together on circuit, Byrne would prevail after following his rival around.

To this point, the weekend had been shaping up as a three-way fight for pole and race victory between Byrne, Brookes and Ryuichi Kiyonari but the Japanese rider effectively took himself out of play with a crash late in Q2. The Buildbase BMW went down at Britten’s and although Kiyonari had comfortably done enough to advance into the final session, his motorcycle couldn’t be repaired in time, consigning him to tenth on the grid.

Byrne got the ball rolling in Q3 with a 1:35.584 on his first timed lap but with the clock approaching zero, Brookes edged ahead by half a tenth. It would all come down to their final laps and Brookes extended his lead with a 1:35.512 but his improvement wasn’t quite big enough as Byrne followed him over the finish line, clocking a 1:35.463 to grab pole for today’s opening race of the weekend.

Dan Linfoot continued his excellent run of form with third, his second front row start in as many weekends, while Tommy Bridewell took fourth ahead of Barry Burrell, another stand-out performer on the WD40 Kawasaki, and GBmoto’s Chris Walker.

John Hopkins will start seventh although he needed a last ditch flyer to claim a Q3 place at the expense of his teammate Josh Waters. The American will line up alongside Peter Hickman, whose session ended in bizarre circumstances after striking a stray cat on his final run, preventing him from improving on eighth. Jakub Smrz starts ninth for Millsport Ducati with the frustrated Ryuichi Kiyonari completing the top ten.

 

2014 MCE INSURANCE BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 7: OULTON PARK
DATATAG EXTREME QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
POS RIDER BIKE TEAM TIME
1  67. SHANE BYRNE KAWASAKI RAPID SOLICITORS KAWASAKI 1:35.463 Q3
2  3. JOSH BROOKES YAMAHA MILWAUKEE YAMAHA 1:35.512 Q3
3  4. DAN LINFOOT KAWASAKI QUATTRO PLANT KAWASAKI 1:35.856 Q3
4  46. TOMMY BRIDEWELL YAMAHA MILWAUKEE YAMAHA 1:35.976 Q3
5  7. BARRY BURRELL KAWASAKI TEAM WD40 1:36.105 Q3
6  9. CHRIS WALKER KAWASAKI LLOYDS BRITISH GBMOTO KAWASAKI 1:36.232 Q3
7  21. JOHN HOPKINS SUZUKI TYCO SUZUKI 1:36.291 Q3
8  60. PETER HICKMAN HONDA RAF RESERVES HONDA 1:36.460 Q3
9  96. JAKUB SMRZ DUCATI MILLSPORT DUCATI 1:45.599 Q3
10  23. RYUICHI KIYONARI BMW BUILDBASE BMW MOTORRAD NO TIME Q3
11  11. MICHAEL RUTTER BMW BATHAMS PRIZE WINNING ALES 1:36.523 Q2
12  12. JOSH WATERS SUZUKI TYCO SUZUKI 1:36.528 Q2
13  40. MARTIN JESSOPP BMW RIDERSMOTORCYCLES.COM BMW 1:36.566 Q2
14  75. GLEN RICHARDS KAWASAKI ANVIL HIRE TAG RACING 1:36.861 Q2
15  43. HOWIE MAINWARING KAWASAKI QUATTRO PLANT KAWASAKI 1:36.943 Q2
16  5. STUART EASTON KAWASAKI RAPID SOLICITORS KAWASAKI 1:37.258 Q2
17  24. PATRIC MUFF BMW BATHAMS PRIZE WINNING ALES 1:37.279 Q2
18  303. KEITH FARMER KAWASAKI PR RACING KAWASAKI 1:37.304 Q2
19  56. JOHN INGRAM KAWASAKI MORELLO RACING 1:38.547 Q2
20  8. IAN HUTCHINSON YAMAHA FFX YAMAHA NO TIME Q2
21  88. SCOTT SMART KAWASAKI ANVIL HIRE TAG RACING 1:37.915 Q1
22  14. LEE JACKSON BMW BUILDBASE BMW MOTORRAD 1:37.972 Q1
23  20. JENNY TINMOUTH HONDA TWR 1:38.718 Q1
24  64. AARON ZANOTTI SUZUKI GGH/STEL SUZUKI 1:38.720 Q1
25  101. GARY MASON KAWASAKI TSINGTAO WK KAWASAKI 1:38.984 Q1
26  15. BEN WILSON KAWASAKI GEARLINK KAWASAKI 1:39.032 Q1
27  123. C. PONSSON BIMOTA ALSTARE JUNIOR TEAM 1:39.256 Q1
28  45. RHALF LO TURCO KAWASAKI SBKCITY KAWASAKI 1:42.347 Q1
29  10. JON KIRKHAM KAWASAKI HALSALL BIKE GEAR NO TIME Q1

 

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