Ryuichi Kiyonari smashed the Knockhill lap record to claim pole start for the double race seventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship but the 22 year old Japanese rider was only a tenth of a second faster than his HM Plant Honda team-mate Michael Rutter.

Both however need to be mindful of the rising challenge of young Ulsterman Jonathan Rea, third fastest aboard the Red Bull Honda, and the returning force of the reigning champion John Reynolds aboard the Rizla Suzuki.

The Nottingham rider is well on the way to recovery after breaking his right leg in five places in a crash during pre-season testing and his fourth place on the grid, with a time of 49.736secs, for the Scottish races underlines he is ready for action.

“That is fantastic, I am really happy with that and cannot start to thank everyone who has helped me so much over the past few months – it has been a long hard struggle but now my season starts here,” smiled Reynolds.

“The bike has always been good, it’s just that I’ve not been performing on it, and am still struggling a bit because the pace out there is so hot, so qualifying for the front row is really good.

“It will be a tough old race, physically hard work, but I am ready for it,” Reynolds warned the pretenders to his crown.

Kiyonari goes into the races playing catch-up in the title stakes, currently third overall. “I need strong results here to maintain my position and am feeling good now,” he smiled after his 49.351secs lap that took some 0.7 seconds off the three year old record set by the late, former champion Steve Hislop.

Rutter, uninjured in a spectacular high-side during the afternoon session, is feeling confident after his 49.499secs lap of the 1.3 mile Scottish circuit he should increase his 45 points lead in the title stakes, considering his nearest rival, Gregorio Lavilla, riding the Airwaves Ducati, starts from the third row of the grid, twelfth fastest.

Dean Thomas, riding Hawk Kawasaki, heads the second row, with Leon Haslam, Michael Laverty, and James Haydon, returning to the Suzuki team, alongside him.

James Buckingham was the fastest of the British Superbike Cup contenders, again embarrassing a number of factory backed riders with a strong performance aboard the Quay Garage Suzuki, as he lapped in 50.270secs.

HM Plant Honda Report

Ryuichi Kiyonari continued his domination of qualifying for the seventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill by taking his second pole position of the season. His HM Plant Honda Racing team-mate Michael Rutter was the nearest challenger to his supremacy throughout both qualifying sessions and finished in second position at the chequered flag.

Tomorrow’s two 30-lap Superbike races will see the first three positions on the grid filled by CBR1000RR Fireblades after Red Bull Honda’s Jonathan Rea took an impressive third position. The signs are the Honda riders may have a decisive advantage over the 1.3-mile circuit near Dunfermline, with Kiyonari and Rutter looking to extend their winning run in the 13-round series.

Kiyonari has already won half of this year’s 12 races and his pole position performance was typical of the speed that he has shown throughout the four rounds that he has completed. The talented 22-year-old Japanese star lies third in the championship – eight points behind Gregorio Lavilla – but he will be hoping to overtake the Spaniard and close the gap on championship leader Rutter.

The 32-year-old Midlander has three victories to date and is 45 points ahead of Lavilla in the championship chase, but he will be concentrating on the imposing threat of his team-mate at Knockhill. Rutter’s qualifying performance was all the more impressive when he recorded his fastest time only minutes after falling off at Seat Curve.

Michael Rutter: “That was an eventful qualifying session! My crash happened with only about 15 minutes left and so I had to rush back to the pits to get back out on my other HM Plant Honda. I lost the rear end on the exit of the first turn, but was able to bounce back and record my fastest time of the day after that. There’s no doubt that Kiyo will be the man to beat, but I hope that my experience will pay off tomorrow.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari: “Last year this was a difficult track for me to master in wet conditions. However, I learnt a lot when we returned here for a pre-season test. This has helped me to set a strong pace throughout qualifying on the HM Plant Honda. Like all the riders, I am hoping that the fine conditions continue tomorrow. I know that it will be difficult to win both races, but that must be my aim at the start of the day.”

Rizla Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki's John Reynolds will start from fourth on the front row and James Haydon from eighth on the second row in tomorrow's seventh-round of the British Superbike Championship at Knockhill in Scotland.

A focused Reynolds spent much of the qualifying sessions testing tyres for race distance and then put in a blisteringly-quick lap time to ensure his first front row starting position of 2005.

Haydon used qualifying to fine tune the suspension on his Rizla Suzuki and test various Dunlop tyres. He was just one-tenth-of-a-second behind his team mate and secured a solid second row start in eighth, happy in the knowledge that he has a race set-up as quick as any rider on the track.

Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari took pole position while the top 15 were separated by just one second at the short and twisty 1.3-mile long Scottish circuit.

John Reynolds: "Thank you to my team for all their hard work and efforts in helping me on to the front row. It's great to be back riding competitively. As I have said all season, there's nothing at all wrong with the Rizla Suzuki. It's a fantastic package and just needed me to ride it harder - something I can do now my leg is much better.

"I'm looking for a good start tomorrow and to hang in with the leaders for the first five laps. If I can stay with them for those opening laps, then I'll be there at the end for the reckoning. It's all about riding aggressively and I'm going to be biting the screen and giving it my all."

James Haydon: "My team of technicians did a brilliant job today. We tested a lot of tyres and made minor adjustments to the front and rear suspension and kept up our forward momentum. On my last qualifying tyre I suffered a big slide and lost a bit of time but still managed a second row starting position. It's important to get a good start here because I know I am able to post lap times on race tyres that are similar to the guys on the front row. It's going to be fun."

Robert Wicks - Team Manager: "Well done to 'JR', James and the Rizla Suzuki team for putting in so much hard work and effort this weekend. Qualifying was incredibly tight but our guys fought their way on to the front two rows for our best team qualification of the season to date. Well done to everyone in the team for pulling together.

"John's front row is fantastic and he is riding more aggressively than at any other time this season. Listening to him after the sessions, he's absolutely determined to get good results tomorrow and is speaking like the Champion we know he is.

"James was within a whisker of 'JR' and starting from the second row is a strong place to be. His lap times on race rubber match everyone on the front row and if he gets away with them he'll be able to challenge. There is an air of expectation about the team and we are hungry for podiums and we are looking forward to tomorrow's races."

Red Bull Honda

Jonathan Rea made another impressive performance on his Red Bull Honda during qualifying for the seventh round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill. The talented 18-year-old rider finished third behind the HM Plant Hondas of Ryuichi Kiyonari and Michael Rutter to continue his upward spiral in the world’s leading domestic Superbike series.

Rea is only competing in his third road racing season after two previous years in the British 125GP and Supersport championships as part of the Red Bull Rookies Honda team. He has graduated to the Superbike class with some distinction and now looks set to challenge his more experienced rivals for podium finishes on his immaculately prepared CBR1000RR Fireblade.

This is Rea’s third consecutive front row start after taking a sensational pole position at Mondello Park and another third place at Croft. The young Ulsterman followed that up with a best race result of seventh at Croft – beating that will be his clear objective at the start of tomorrow’s two 30-lap Superbike races at Knockhill.

Jonathan Rea: “I’ve continued to make good progress on the CBR1000RR Fireblade even though I have only raced a RS125 here in the past. Once again I’ve managed to gain a satisfactory qualifying position which is of course so important for a good start. My confidence is growing, and with a good set-up on the Red Bull Honda, I’m hopeful of recording my best results of the season tomorrow.”

Eugene Laverty continued his impressive qualifying record at the seventh round of the Metabo British Supersport Championship at Knockhill. The talented, young Ulsterman has taken a top ten position on the starting grid for every round of the ultra-competitive series to date.

Fourth after this morning’s opening period of qualifying, Laverty was able to improve his time by 0.2 seconds in the warmer climatic conditions enjoyed by the Supersport field in the second session. The Red Bull Honda rider’s time of 51.414 seconds was well inside his elder brother Michael’s existing lap record of 52.804 and secured fifth position overall.

The competitive nature of the Supersport class may be evidenced by the top 14 riders all qualifying within 1.1 seconds of each other. Jay Vincent took a superb pole position on his CBR600RR, but with Laverty and the other middleweight contenders in close contention, it could be anyone’s race tomorrow over 28 laps at the 1.3-mile circuit near Dunfermline.

Eugene Laverty: “I’m really happy with how everything is going with Red Bull Honda. I’m gaining momentum every time I go out on the CBR600RR, but then I expected this level of performance midway through the season. I had a good race last time out at Croft, so I’m aiming for my first podium finish of the year. This wasn’t one of my favourite circuits before this weekend, but that all might change after tomorrow!”

Chris Jones continued to show his true potential for Red Bull Honda by qualifying on the front row for the seventh round of the British 125GP Championship at Knockhill. The 14-year-old rookie maintained a leading position on the leaderboard during free practice and qualifying to take a final third place on the grid.

The Droitwich teenager is still on the crest of a wave after taking a deserved victory at the last round of the Honda-dominated series three weeks ago at Croft. The level of expectation will now increase in the young protégé, but the signs are that he can cope with the added pressure.

This is Jones’ fourth front row start of the season – all of them in third position – and he will hope to capitalise on this advantage during the 24-lap race. Already fifth in the 13-round series, the RS125 rider is focussing on elevating the Red Bull Honda towards a top three position overall.

Chris Jones: “My win at the last round has given me renewed confidence for the remainder of the season. The Red Bull Honda RS125 is going really well here at Knockhill and I’d like to thank the team for how hard they have worked to get me into this position. I’m expecting tomorrow’s race to be as frenetic as ever, but hopefully I’ll be in the mix for the podium places.”

Karl Harris

Dean Thomas

"Pretty good day today I've ended up in 5th which I'm very pleased with and as long as I get a good start then hopefully I will be able to run with them. I've got a good race set up and even though I had a couple of problems during the second qualifying session it is nothing that we can't sort out before tomorrow.

"It's been dry today which is quite surprising for Scotland but I can't complain at all and we managed to get a number of good consistent laps under our belt. The changes we made yesterday to help my arm pump have worked wonders. I'm not moving around as much on the bike now and having to fight with it like I have been before and now I'm wedged in which seems to have helped a lot.

"Obviously the Honda's are flying around here and Kiyonari has found his old form again, it's going to be tough to stay with them as they handle so well round here. I've just got to get myself a good start and latch onto the back of them for the whole race in the hope that I can stay with them and get a couple of strong results."