Shane Byrne stormed into pole position ahead of the Brands Hatch championship decider, and smashed the outright two-wheel lap record in the process.
The final qualifying session was red flagged just a minute in, after a huge high speed crash at Paddock Hill Bend from John Hopkins. Hopkins was stretchered off, and it was later confirmed that he has suffered a fractured L2 vertebrae and fractures to both knees.
The session resumed, and it was a six minute dash to flag with Jason O’Halloran the first to set a time. Christian Iddon swiftly took the top spot from him, but it wasn’t long until Byrne crossed the line to set his record breaking lap. Championship leader Leon Haslam provisionally sat on the front row, until a crash at Druids brought him back into the pits. Because of the short amount of time left of the session, he was unable to rejoin and was subsequently pushed back to fourth as championship contender Josh Brookes shot to second.
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, Datatag Qualifying:
- Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:24.163s
- Josh Brookes (Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha) +0.544s
- Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +0.589s
- Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.654s
- Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.658s
- Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.671s
- James Ellison (McAMS Yamaha) +0.704s
- Jake Dixon (RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki) +1.073s
- John Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati)
