Gregorio Lavilla shattered the Donington Park lap record, grabbing pole start for the double race penultimate round, as he turned up the pressure on his rival for the Bennetts British Superbike crown, Ryuichi Kiyonari.

The Japanese rider out-paced Lavilla in the previous round, completing a winning double by a split seconds to move ahead, by a single point, in the title stakes, but at the Leicestershire grand prix circuit the Spaniard set a scorching pace.

He powered his Airwaves Ducati around the 2.5 mile circuit in 1m 31.458s, an average speed of 94.88mph and some three quarters of a second inside the record, but, his team-mate Leon Haslam came close to matching his time, with a late burst of power that left him two tenths of a second down.

“It is all going pretty well and I am feeling confident with the bike,” smiled Lavilla after he had secure his second successive pole start. “During the morning I worked on the bike, and then in the afternoon it was just a question of putting in a good lap and improving my times.

“In the races, it will be the usual riders up there battling for victory, but I will ensure that I am as well prepared as possible and ready,” he added as he considered his tactics for the two 20 lappers which for him are ‘must-win’ affairs.

He may benefit from the speed, and local knowledge, of his 23 year old Derbyshire team-mate Haslam, who has a strong pedigree at the circuit and while formally there are no team-orders, Lavilla could hope for some help in keeping his HM Plant Honda rivals at bay.

Kiyonari, the winner of a dozen races so far, having topped the morning session, had to settle for fourth best overall, eclipsed by his team-mate Michael Rutter who, after taking a tumble in each of the previous three rounds, is eager to kick-start his campaign and peg back the 36 points deficit he has on the leading duo.

The Leicestershire based rider needs victories just as much as Kiyonari, ensuring some hard fought action out from, with both Hawk Kawasaki riders Glen Richards and Dean Thomas and the Rizla Suzuki duo of James Haydon and defending champion John Reynolds, making up the second row of a highly competitive grid.

Karl Harris, the former triple British Supersport Champion, heads up the third row, ahead of Dennis Hobbs, Gary Mason and Scott Smart, while Marty Nutt was the fastest of the British Superbike Cup riders, starting his Honda from the fourth row, while James Buckingham, who sealed that title in the previous round, was a third of a second down on him.

HM Plant Honda Report

HM Plant Honda Racing’s Michael Rutter and Ryuichi Kiyonari will start tomorrow’s two 20-lap races from third and fourth positions respectively at Donington Park. The front row grid positions are vital for the two riders as they enter the penultimate round of the 13-event Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

With their biggest title threat Gregorio Lavilla in pole position, both Rutter and Kiyo are determined to get a good start to the races at the Leicestershire track. The duo are confident about their chances in the races after securing a double 1-2 finish aboard the HRC-supported CBR1000RR Fireblades at last year’s corresponding event.

Japanese rider Kiyonari has also been fastest in three of the four sessions this weekend. With a narrow advantage of just one point over Lavilla at the top of the championship standings, the 23-year-old is firmly focussed on achieving his 13th victory of the season.

His 32-year-old team-mate was in second position after free practice and first qualifying. With a deficit of just 37 points from the championship leader, Midlander Rutter is definitely not yet out of contention for the title.

Michael Rutter: “Donington Park was a really good track for HM Plant Honda Racing last year. Hopefully, we can repeat that performance again this season. The CBR1000RR Fireblades and Michelin tyres are well suited to Donington Park and we need to use that to our advantage.

“I’m happy to have qualified ahead of Kiyo because as always he is a serious threat at this track, but it would have been better to have been ahead of the Ducatis as well. That’s something that we need to rectify in the race – when it really counts.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari: “I like Donington Park and we have got a good set-up for the HM Plant Honda at this circuit. The Michelin tyres are working well here too, so I’m hoping for two race wins tomorrow – just like last season.

“The Ducatis are very fast here though, so it will be difficult to beat them. I’m expecting two more close races at the front of the field. The most important thing is that I can bring home the factory Fireblade with as many points as possible so that I’m still in a strong position for the last round.”

Rizla Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki's James Haydon and John Reynolds will start from sixth and seventh on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's 12th round of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park.

Haydon crashed unhurt in the morning session but came back strong in the afternoon, slashing nearly two-seconds off his best lap time to claim sixth on the grid. He is planning to test a change to the front suspension on his GSX-R1000 in warm-up for the races tomorrow and is confident he can improve his lap times even further.

Reynolds was provisionally third on the grid after first qualifying before a crash in the final session meant he was unable to improve his time, eventually ending up seventh and lined-up astern his team mate on the second row.

Ducati's Gregorio Lavilla is on pole position.

James Haydon:
4;A big thank you to my team for all the hard work they put in this afternoon to get me onto the second row. We made small incremental changes all session to my suspension and every step was positive, giving me more feel and confidence in my Rizla Suzuki.

"I'm pleased to be on the second row as that gives us a chance in the races. My position might even have been better if I hadn't been distracted by a crash at the Esses on my fast lap. The Rizla Suzuki is good - before the second session we were 20 per cent away: Now I'd say we are only five per cent away. We will try a minor change to the forks in the morning to see if we can find that last extra little bit."

John Reynolds:
"What a frustrating day! I managed to record some really fast laps on a race tyre and then when I switched to a qualifier I crashed. After that - and without my damaged number one bike - I was unable to improve my times.

"If you want to go faster, you have to try harder. Unfortunately when I pushed that little bit more on a qualifying tyre, I lost the front end and crashed. I want more front-end feel from my GSX-R1000 and that's what we will be working on in warm-up for the races."

Robert Wicks - Team Manager:
"James and his crew put in an enormous amount of effort this afternoon and have been rewarded by a strong second row starting position. He's good off the line and from there the plan will be to get away with the leaders and see if he can challenge for the podium.

"'JR' is without a doubt one of the fastest riders on race tyres at this circuit. When he tried to go faster on a qualifying tyre he lost the front end and that unfortunately ruined any chance of him improving his grid position. The upside is that he's on the second row and is extremely determined to get a result in front of his home crowd."

Dean Thomas

Well I've ended up 8th on the grid for tomorrow's races which I'm pretty happy with. We found a good set up with the bike today but I know that races tomorrow are going to be very tough and tricky as everyone is on a major mission to prove some points at the end of the season.

I'm looking forward to the races but I think the weather is going to play a major factor in the overall result. It's supposed to be mixed but I'm hoping it will be dry as we've found a good set up now. The Honda's and Ducati's will be locked in a battle with each other for both the races but hopefully we can add a bit of fire to the flame.

Both Glen and I have crashed this weekend and with any luck I have managed to get it out of my system now and that we'll have two good races tomorrow. I'd like to finish the season on a high note with some positive results and go into next season feeling confident.