Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey dominated proceedings at Brands Hatch today to take pole position for round three of the MCE British Superbike Championship.
Mossey set the pace throughout the three qualifying sessions and put-in an impressive 45.275 in the last minute of the session to take pole.
He will be joined on the front-row of the grid by James Ellison and four-time champion Shane Byrne. Ellison won both races at last year’s meeting so he will be feeling confident with his front-row starting position.
The second-row consists of Michael Laverty, Richard Cooper and Bennetts Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell.
Leon Haslam was struggling on his return to Brands Hatch and could only manage seventh pace following a big crash during practice this morning. He is joined by John Hopkins and Jason O’Halloran on the third-row.
There were two red flag stoppages in Q1, with James Rispoli and Jack Kennedy suffering from huge crashes. Both riders were taken to the medical centre as a precaution, with Kennedy complaining of leg pain following his crash at Graham Hill Bend.
After the second restart we also lost Filip Backlund, who also suffered from a high-side at Graham Hill Bend.
On the track it was Mossey who took top spot with a 45.574, ahead of Cooper and Ellison. Alongside the three riders who crashed, the session also spelled the end of the day for the likes of Shaun Winfield (19th), Stuart Easton (21st) and Howie Mainwaring-Smart (26th).
Into Q2 and the crashes at Graham Hill Bend continued with Billy McConnell hitting the deck after losing control of his FS-3 Racing Kawasaki. Moments later Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran joined the Australian out of the session after loosing the front end at the same corner.
Mossey once again took top spot in the second session with a lap-time of 45.474. Hopkins and Ellison joined him inside the top three.
Q2 turned out to be the end of the day for riders such as Peter Hickman (10th), championship leader Christian Iddon (11th) and Dan Linfoot (13th).
Mossey looked strong again in Q3 and was improving with every lap he put-in. He put in his pole position lap in with just seconds remaining in the session, with a lap-time which nobody else could get near to in dying moments.
Race one at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit is scheduled to take place at 13:30 on Sunday afternoon.
