Alex Lowes will start the opening race of this weekend’s Oulton Park triple header from pole position after outpacing Shane Byrne in qualifying this afternoon. The Samsung Honda rider did have a minor hiccup, crashing after setting his pole time, but both rider and machine will be ready to lead the field away in race one.
Lowes had been the man to beat in both knockout sessions but PJ Jacobsen was threatening on the Tyco Suzuki and set the first meaningful lap time of Q3, a 1:35.388. Teammate Josh Brookes came up two tenths short, continuing the pattern of the previous sessions, but Lowes had more than enough to take pole away from the American with a 1:35.238.
After making it through the first two sessions quietly and comfortably, Byrne finally came to life with three minutes to go with a 1:35.193, over half a second quicker than he’d gone before. Lowes though still had enough time, and more crucially, tyre life to respond and a 1:35.119 saw him regain pole position with a minute remaining. Byrne’s challenged ended there and despite having pole in the bag, Alex still managed to lose the front end at Shell Oils hairpin on his in-lap although the damage was minimal.
James Ellison clocked a 1:35.542 to sneak in front of Brookes, claiming the final place on the front row with the Australian relegated to row two where he will be joined by the returning Tommy Bridewell. The Wiltshire rider lost his place at Bathams Honda earlier in the summer but a new start at Halsall Racing Kawasaki has seen him back to his best, securing sixth on the grid. Jon Kirkham and Dan Linfoot complete the second row with Keith Farmer and James Westmoreland just behind after scraping into Q3.
Ryuichi Kiyonari wasn’t so lucky though after a miserable session. The three-time champion didn’t look happy with his Honda CBR1000RR at any stage and seventeenth was the best he could manage.
| 2013 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship – Round 7: Oulton Park | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Classification | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Team | Best Time |
| 1 |  Alex Lowes |
Honda | Samsung Honda | 1:35.119 |
| 2 | Shane Byrne |
Kawasaki | Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki | 1:35.193 |
| 3 |  PJ Jacobsen |
Suzuki | Tyco Suzuki | 1:35.388 |
| 4 | James Ellison |
Yamaha | Milwaukee Yamaha | 1:35.542 |
| 5 |  Josh Brookes |
Suzuki | Tyco Suzuki | 1:35.582 |
| 6 | Tommy Bridewell |
Kawasaki | Halsall Racing Kawasaki | 1:35.770 |
| 7 | Jon Kirkham |
BMW | Buildbase BMW Motorrad | 1:35.891 |
| 8 | Dan Linfoot |
Honda | Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda | 1:36.157 |
| 9 | Keith Farmer |
Kawasaki | Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki | 1:36.215 |
| 10 | James Westmoreland |
BMW | Buildbase BMW Motorrad | 1:36.556 |
| Eliminated in Q2 | ||||
| 11 | Chris Walker |
Kawasaki | Quattro Plant Kawasaki | 1:36.558 |
| 12 | Peter Hickman |
Honda | Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda | 1:36.739 |
| 13 | Michael Rutter |
Honda | Bathams Honda | 1:36.855 |
| 14 | Karl Harris |
Kawasaki | PR Racing Kawasaki | 1:36.891 |
| 15 | Josh Waters |
Yamaha | Milwaukee Yamaha | 1:36.934 |
| 16 |  Jakub Smrz |
Honda | Padgetts Honda | 1:37.395 |
| 17 |  Ryuichi Kiyonari |
Honda | Samsung Honda | 1:37.491 |
| 18 |  Matteo Baiocco |
Ducati | Rapido Sport Racing | 1:37.495 |
| Eliminated in Q1 | ||||
| 19 | Lee Costello |
Kawasaki | Halsall Racing Kawasaki | 1:38.259 |
| 20 | Howie Mainwaring |
Kawasaki | Tsingtao WKbikes Performance | 1:38.283 |
| 21 | Martin Jessopp |
BMW | Riders Motorcycles | 1:38.899 |
| 22 | Aaron Zanotti |
Suzuki | STEL Suzuki | 1:39.349 |
| 23 | Jamie Poole |
Kawasaki | Quelch BSD Motorsport | 1:40.951 |
| 24 | Jenny Tinmouth |
Honda | Two Wheel Racing | No Time |
| 25 | Barry Burrell |
Kawasaki | Quattro Plant Kawasaki | No Time |
