Shane Byrne saw off the GBmoto Kawasakis to claim yet another pole position at Brands Hatch, although he had to overcome a problem or two before achieving it. The championship leader came dangerously close to being knocked out in the second session but after escaping that potential disaster, he took full advantage of his reprieve.
Chris Walker and James Ellison had sent GBmoto Kawasaki into an early 1-2 in the final session but Byrne responded to the threat with a 1:26.131, almost a full second faster than his Q2 effort. The Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider later admitted he had doubts heading into the pole position shootout but paid tribute to his team for their work in overcoming the problems.
“The bike was not working for me in Q1 and Q2 and I thought it best the team worked on it rather than me staying out on track. Your confidence takes a battering when you are losing the front end, but thanks to the team and the changes made it possible.”
Without question, the rider with the most eventful afternoon was Josh Brookes who crashed twice on his Milwaukee Yamaha. The Australian topped the times in Q1 before falling moments later and after his team had repaired the damage sufficiently for him to get through Q2, Brookes lost control again at Sheene curve.
“Qualifying one started fine and I got a run in and then tried to improve and got on the gas too early and the back end let go and it low-sided and luckily didn’t do too much damage to the bike or to me”, added Brookes.” In qualifying three everything was back to normal and I forgot about the crash and just wanted to go faster, the first flying lap was ok and then on the second lap I could tell I was improving from my dash. I knew I was going better than all of my previous laps and I kept my head down to push as hard as I could and the next thing I knew the front end let go and I was down again.”
From a potential pole challenge, Brookes fell to eighth as Jakub Smrz grabbed fourth ahead of Josh’s teammate Tommy Bridewell with Ryuichi Kiyonari and John Hopkins both outpacing him too before the end of the session. Richard Cooper qualified ninth ahead of Dan Linfoot and the Quattro Plant rider will have hoped for better than tenth after going fastest of all in Q2.
| 2014 MCE INSURANCE BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 5: BRANDS HATCH GP | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DATATAG EXTREME QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION | |||||
| POS | RIDER | BIKE | TEAM | LAP TIME | |
| 1 |  67. SHANE BYRNE |
KAWASAKI | RAPID SOLICITORS KAWASAKI | 1:26.131 | Q3 |
| 2 | 9. CHRIS WALKER |
KAWASAKI | LLOYDS BRITISH GBMOTO KAWASAKI | 1:26.189 | Q3 |
| 3 | 77. JAMES ELLISON |
KAWASAKI | LLOYDS BRITISH GBMOTO KAWASAKI | 1:26.385 | Q3 |
| 4 |  96. JAKUB SMRZ |
DUCATI | MILLSPORT DUCATI | 1:26.504 | Q3 |
| 5 | 46. TOMMY BRIDEWELL |
YAMAHA | MILWAUKEE YAMAHA | 1:26.681 | Q3 |
| 6 |  23. RYUICHI KIYONARI |
BMW | BUILDBASE BMW MOTORRAD | 1:26.728 | Q3 |
| 7 |  21. JOHN HOPKINS |
SUZUKI | TYCO SUZUKI | 1:26.775 | Q3 |
| 8 |  3. JOSH BROOKES |
YAMAHA | MILWAUKEE YAMAHA | 1:26.865 | Q3 |
| 9 | 47. RICHARD COOPER |
KAWASAKI | ANVIL HIRE TAG RACING | 1:26.881 | Q3 |
| 10 | 4. DAN LINFOOT |
KAWASAKI | QUATTRO PLANT KAWASAKI | 1:26.889 | Q3 |
| 11 | 43. HOWIE MAINWARING |
KAWASAKI | QUATTRO PLANT KAWASAKI | 1:27.244 | Q2 |
| 12 | 5. STUART EASTON |
KAWASAKI | RAPID SOLICITORS KAWASAKI | 1:27.403 | Q2 |
| 13 | 10. JON KIRKHAM |
KAWASAKI | HALSALL BIKE GEAR | 1:27.584 | Q2 |
| 14 | 60. PETER HICKMAN |
HONDA | RAF RESERVES HONDA | 1:27.689 | Q2 |
| 15 | 12. JOSH WATERS |
SUZUKI | TYCO SUZUKI | 1:27.811 | Q2 |
| 16 | 7. BARRY BURRELL |
KAWASAKI | TEAM WD40 | 1:27.845 | Q2 |
| 17 | 11. MICHAEL RUTTER |
BMW | BATHAMS PRIZE WINNING ALES | 1:27.879 | Q2 |
| 18 | 8. IAN HUTCHINSON |
YAMAHA | FFX YAMAHA | 1:28.020 | Q2 |
| 19 | 14. LEE JACKSON |
BMW | BUILDBASE BMW MOTORRAD | 1:28.183 | Q2 |
| 20 | 56. JOHN INGRAM |
KAWASAKI | MORELLO RACING | 1:28.620 | Q2 |
| 21 |  24. PATRIC MUFF |
BMW | BATHAMS PRIZE WINNING ALES | 1:28.389 | Q1 |
| 22 | 64. AARON ZANOTTI |
SUZUKI | GGH/STEL SUZUKI | 1:28.491 | Q1 |
| 23 | 40. MARTIN JESSOPP |
BMW | RIDERSMOTORCYCLES.COM BMW | 1:28.750 | Q1 |
| 24 | 303. KEITH FARMER |
KAWASAKI | PR RACING KAWASAKI | 1:28.770 | Q1 |
| 25 | 15. BEN WILSON |
KAWASAKI | GEARLINK KAWASAKI | 1:28.924 | Q1 |
| 26 | 101. GARY MASON |
KAWASAKI | ANVIL HIRE TAG RACING | 1:29.054 | Q1 |
| 27 | 20. JENNY TINMOUTH |
HONDA | TWR | 1:29.849 | Q1 |
| 28 |  45. RHALF LO TURCO |
KAWASAKI | SBKCITY KAWASAKI | 1:31.208 | Q1 |
