Octagon

The wild card riders were the leading lights at a damp and gloomy Brands Hatch, with British Superbike regular John Reynolds (Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000) taking the Superpole win on what was a largely wet track surface.

Superpole had been declared wet by the race organisers even before the first significant rains fell and thus each of the top 16 qualifiers was given 50 minutes of track time in which to complete a maximum of 12 laps - with the fastest lap of each rider counting as his lap time for overall grid classification.

Those riders who exited pitlane early generally had the best of the weather, with the rainfall steadily increasing in intensity until the final few minutes of the session.

Reynolds, a previous Brands Hatch World Superbike race winner, was one of those who set his best time relatively early, but regulars and wild cards put in some outstanding displays of riding on a fully wet track.

Second place man Chris Walker (HM Plant Ducati) slid and weaved all the way around the 4.197km track; British Championship leader Shane Byrne (Monstermob Ducati) was third, his time coming towards the end of proceedings.

Quick starter Regis Laconi’s early best looked to have scored Superpole as the rains built in intensity but Reynolds was first to overhaul him, followed by three other British attackers.

Michael Rutter (Renegade Ducati) made it three wild cards in the top five at the end of the session but a series of dramatic laps from Ruben Xaus (Ducati Fila 999F03) on a sodden track, promoted him to sixth on the grid.

Sean Emmett (ETI Ducati) and James Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) finished of the second row.

Imperfect timing of his quick laps and some seeming problems with corner exit traction prevented Neil Hodgson (Ducati Fila 999 F02) from anything higher than 11th, but the youngest and oldest riders in the field - wild card Leon Haslam (Renegade Ducati) and veteran Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) - had better fortune, setting ninth and tenth best times respectively. Troy Corser qualified the Petronas FP-1 in 12th.

Troy Corser

Superpole was declared a 'Wet Superpole' at Brands Hatch and the conditions changed dramatically throughout the fifty-minute session. At the end, Troy finished with the twelfth quickest time and so will start from the third row of the grid for tomorrow's race. 'Wild card' rider John Reynolds (Suzuki) took pole position with a time of 1:35.706, with Chris Walker (Ducati) second, another 'wild card' Shane Byrne (Ducati) third and Regis Laconi (Ducati). Runaway series leader Neil Hodgson (Ducati) could only finish eleventh today and faces a difficult race day tomorrow.

Troy - 12th, 1m38.613 - "Well I've got the series leader right next to me on the third row of the grid, so that's pretty indicative of how trying the conditions were this afternoon. I probably should've waited for the track to get wetter before I went out because my wet tyre seemed to have pretty good grip. That's why I didn't push so hard after my first set of laps. I managed to go one second in the wet today then the wet yesterday, but really I'd prefer it to be dry tomorrow. I don't feel we had enough time to get a good set-up in the wet or the dry here. I'm happy with my front tyre for a dry or wet race, but not sure about the rear. If you take the 'wild cards' out, I would have ended up seventh today, so I can't be too unhappy."

HM Plant Ducati

Heavy rain fell throughout the afternoon at Brands Hatch, forcing the organisers to call a wet Superpole. This gave the riders 50 minutes and a maximum of 12 full laps – instead of the usual one lap per rider dash – to record their fastest time.

As on Friday, it was almost a case of walking on water for Walker because the rain fell hard enough to leave inch-deep pools scattered around the historic British racetrack. However, he still came up with the goods when he splashed to his best ever WSB starting position of second on the grid.

“To be honest, I prefer the 12 lap system,” said Walker, “I find it easier to cope with than the mad dash that is Superpole. I also think I had an advantage today because I’m very familiar with the track and know how it responds to bad conditions. Nobody seems sure what the weather will do tomorrow, but I’m well up for it come rain or shine.”

It wasn’t such a satisfying session for James Toseland who struggled to come to terms with the treacherous circuit, eventually finishing eighth. Both HM Plant Ducati riders started the session on intermediate tyres, unfortunately conditions were wetter than the team had anticipated. After three or four of his allocated laps Toseland had no choice but to return to the garage for a switch to full wets. This had an unsettling effect and he struggled to get back into the groove for the remainder of the session.

“It was tough to get things going again after the tyre swap,” admitted Toseland. “But I’m reasonably happy despite my grid position, because my closest rival in the championship, Ruben Xaus, is on the same row and the championship leader is behind me.”

British wild card rider John Reynolds took pole in front of those hardy soles that braved the rain to watch the qualifying action. However, Sunday is expected to be dry, which will mean that the riders and teams will enter the race with very little dry weather practice.

Rizla Suzuki

John Reynolds took his and Rizla Suzuki's first ever pole position in World Superbikes at Brands Hatch today after a dramatic wet Superpole session.

JR was consistently in the top three in all practice and qualifying sessions but left his best effort until the Superpole competition when it really counted. As the dry track was doused with rain, the Wet Superpole regulations of a 50-minute session and a maximum of 12-laps to settle the grid positions was announced. JR waited until the rain had fully drenched the greasy Tarmac before going out on his Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 and completing five blisteringly fast laps. He then had to endure a nail-biting 20-minute wait in the pits as rider after rider attempted to top his time but failed.

JR is the current lap record holder at Brands Hatch with a 1:26.800 lap and as well as taking pole position at the BSB round here in June, he won a race and he is hoping for a repeat tomorrow.

Rizla Suzuki rider Yukio Kagayama will start from 17th on the grid for tomorrow's two races after missing out on final Superpole qualifying. The Japanese ace is struggling to come to terms with the changing elevation of the 2.6082-mile long circuit. Alstare Suzuki rider Gregorio Lavilla qualified 13th on his GSX-R1000.

The European 9th round of the World Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch is the premier Superbike race of the year with a crowd of more than 120,000 expected to descend on the English circuit. Rizla Suzuki is sponsoring the big screens that will show the trackside audience all the racing action.

John Reynolds: "When I went out it wasn't as bad as it looked, I was able to get some good grip and drive despite the pouring rain. My Rizla Suzuki was set up perfectly for the wet and the Dunlop tyres were excellent.

"I had a golden five minutes on track when I recorded my fastest laps and the conditions got worse after that. We parked the bike up with 20-minutes to go and it was the longest 20-minutes of my life. We waited and watched the times and wondered whether I should go out again, but we didn't want to push any harder than we had to get pole position. When the timer ran out it was a real adrenaline rush to realise I had got my first ever WSB pole.

"It is tomorrow that counts and the races that I want to win and this is a good start. I hope the British fans will get behind me and we can beat the WSB regulars."

Yukio Kagayama: "Today has been difficult. I have no major problems with either the bike or the circuit but I have not been able to make a good lap time. This is puzzling and it means I have a lot of hard work to do tomorrow. I have been getting good starts recently and I will need one to get amongst the front of the field. I will be trying my hardest and giving maximum attack tomorrow."

Paul Denning, Team Manager: "Qualifying today feels like race day at Mondello - I have a lot of conflicting emotions. At Mondello JR won and Yuki crashed out of second and today JR got pole and Yuki finished 17th. Yuki is not showing his full potential here and despite being happy with his GSX-R1000, he is struggling with the track layout and blind corners. He'll be going for a good start and hopefully letting the red mist descend and battle through to the front tomorrow.

"JR has recorded his first pole and the team's in WSB, which is another great milestone for us. We keep trying to improve our bikes, results and positions race by race. JR still has some work to do if it is a dry race tomorrow on finalising the set-up on his bike and making it more comfortable. Wet or dry, Rizla Suzuki will be challenging for the win."

Suzuki

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Gregorio Lavilla fell foul of the changing conditions in a Wet Superpole and ended up on the fourth row of the grid. The morning session had been dry, but the rain started just before Superpole and the one-lap shoot out was changed to a Wet Superpole.
At first the track was only just damp and Gregorio's front tyre turned out to be the wrong one for the conditions. By the time, he returned to the pits for a new tyre, the rain had begun to fall more heavily and he was not able to set a quick time. Pole was set today by 'wild card' John Reynolds (Suzuki), with Chris Walker (Ducati) second and another 'wild card' Shane Byrne (Ducati) in fourth.

Gregorio Lavilla - 13th, 1m39.940 - "I'm not sure if it was my fault or what, but I used a wet tyre and went a bit quicker and then the conditions changed and suddenly I was down in twelfth. The rain began to fall heavily and I knew I couldn't go faster and so I ended up thirteenth! Obviously I'm not very happy and it will be very hard to get a high result because there aren't so many passing places here. I need a very good start in both races if I'm to have any chance at all. I would prefer a dry race because I'm reasonably happy with the set-up we found for dry conditions. For a wet race, I think we're not quite right. Also, if it rains, it is so easy to make a mistake and crash or get taken out by somebody else making a mistake. It's going to be two very hard and long races tomorrow - whatever the conditions."

Ducati Fila

Ruben Xaus will start tomorrow's European Round of the World Superbike championship from sixth place on the grid while points leader Neil Hodgson could only set eleventh quickest time during a wet Superpole session at Brands Hatch and will start from row 3.

"I'm pretty happy with the bike today, things went exactly as I expected with the wild-cards up there, but it's nothing major" commented Neil. "I managed to get a good set-up pretty quickly in the morning dry qualifying and did some consistent laps on my race tyres. In Superpole I timed things badly when the rain came and I just needed one more lap. I'm very confident with my dry weather set-up, a bit less with the wet, so hopefully tomorrow it won't rain".

In the morning session Ruben Xaus crashed at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend and injured the ring finger on his right hand, but this did not prevent him from putting in some quick laps in the afternoon session and in particular during Superpole in appalling conditions.

"The thing is we only tested on wet yesterday so the set-up in the rain is ready" declared Ruben. "In the dry we're struggling a bit because we had a little problem with when I fell off losing precious time. There's a big hole in my finger and it hurts, for sure it's broken, but the race is the most important thing for me. I like to race and win in the dry but I still need to find the right set-up, we're all going to work hard and find the right way for the races tomorrow in the warm-up if it is dry".

Scuderia NCR

Regis Laconi will start at Brands Hatch too from the front row, after a Superpole session scourged by the rain. Regis has been the fastest for long part of the session, then his rivals got advantage of a moment when the French rider of 998RS Ducati Caracchi NCR Nortel Networks joined the pit garage while the rain had a pause to overtake him, profiting of the light better track conditions, however inundated. Then the rain increased once more, vanishing all final assault. At the end of the practice Regis was fourth fastest, the same result he got in morning's qualifying, a result which put him in the front row for the fifth time during the season.

"I'm satisfied, but it could be better." - admitted Laconi at the end of the day - "The rain made me a bad joke during Superpole. I joined early the track at the beginning of the session to verify the bike with a new engine and I recorded the fast laptime, so I stopped to the pit to wait for a right moment to try the fast lap, but the rain stopped for some instant, the track improved and the riders who were running in that moment immediately improved their laptime, so I've lost some position. Then the rain started heavily once more and at that moment there was too much water on the track to improve. If tomorrow will rain too all the British rider will be fierce adversary. It's important start from the front, to not be prisoner in the water cloud made by the group and lose in this way too much time in the early laps."

Giancarlo De Matteis got his first goal, grabbing the qualifying for tomorrow's race. Unfortunately for De Matteis his gearbox had troubles this morning too and forced him to the pit, limiting his experience possibilities.

"This circuit doesn't show me his secrets." - said De Matteis at the end of practices with a bitter smile - "I need to ride and ride to get experience and the gearbox trouble stopped me some time. In the second free practice session I've been able to ride longer, improving the set up for tomorrow race. Now my main goal is to finish both the races in this first contact with a splendid arena like World Superbike."