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 |