Gregorio Lavilla smashed his own Donington Park lap record to start the double race second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship from pole position.

The Airwaves Ducati rider was again in dominant form at the Leicestershire circuit where a winning double in the penultimate round last year eased him to the crown and as he continues that defence, Lavilla is intent on extending his current three points advantage over Ryuichi Kiyonari in the title stakes.

The Japanese rider, aboard the HM Plant Honda, had to settle for fifth best on the qualifying leaderboard, and a second row start, having run some eight tenths of a second down on Lavilla.

The Spaniard was always on the pace in a session that began on a drying track, but then, despite the ever present threat of storm clouds, dried to provide a thriller.

Lavilla made the telling move with 18 minutes of the session remaining, putting in a lap of 1m 31.712s lap of the 2.5 mile circuit, but as first his young team-mate Leon Haslam and then HM Plant Honda’s Karl Harris threatened, he returned in sensational form.

His response was a near inch-perfect performance with a lap of 1m 31.542s, an average speed of 98.31mph – that was 0.176secs inside his own race record and only a split second down on the fastest ever Superbike lap of the circuit set by the late, legendary former champion Steve Hislop.

“It was a bit slippery early on, and I was a bit disappointed not to have beaten my time from last year, but then I go out again and make the big on, so we must be very happy,” smiled Lavilla after his second pole setting performance of the season.

Those two performances have put in firmly in the driving seat to win the Audi Performance Award – a £50,000 limited edition Cabriolet – which rewards consistent speed in qualifying throughout the season.

Harris closed within half a second of Lavilla, with Haslam, shrugging aside the discomfort of the dislocated right ankle and cracked fibula sustained in a high speed crash during the Brands Hatch opener, running third.

Michael Rutter, aboard the Stobart Motorsport Honda, completed the front row of the grid with a lap of 1m 32.351secs. Kiyonari was just 0.002secs down on his former team-mate, to start on the second row alongside Jonathan Rea, Michael Laverty and James Haydon, while former champion Shane Byrne was ninth fastest.

James Buckingham, the defending British Superbike Cup champion, headed the qualifiers in that class aboard his Quay Garage Honda, running half a second up n Chris Martin and Marty Nutt.

Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki’s James Haydon will start from the end of the second row in eighth and Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne from the front of the third row in ninth at the second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park.

Both riders experienced traffic congestion on their fast qualifying laps around the 2.5-mile long Derbyshire circuit but still recorded their quickest times right at the end of the day.

Ducati’s Gregorio Lavilla took pole position.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is wet and all of the sessions so far have been held in the dry. If the races tomorrow are declared wet to start with then the riders will be allowed two sighting laps to accustom themselves to the different track conditions.

James Haydon:

“We had to go backwards to go forwards today. In the practice session we tried some changes to the suspension to give more feel from the front end of the bike but it had the opposite effect. In the afternoon we reverted to yesterday’s settings with some minor changes and the bike was much better.

“I was held up in qualifying but still managed to get on to the second row. We’ll try a couple of changes in warm up in the morning and hopefully that will help us improve further.”

Shakey Byrne:
“To be blunt I am furious I didn’t get to complete an uninterrupted qualifying lap. No matter what I tried or how big a gap I had in front of me I ended up catching someone who held me up.

“The head of the third row gives me a good line into the first corner so I’ll make the most of that. My pace on race rubber is quick and if I can get a good start then I have a chance to try and follow the leaders and see what I can do from there.”

Niall Mackenzie - Race Operations Manager:
“Both riders were held up in qualifying and their starting positions don’t reflect how competitive they are on race tyres. Shane was third fastest in morning practice and has a strong race set-up. If he gets a decent start he can challenge towards the front.

“James has changed a lot more on his bike than Shane and has now found a setting that is giving him more confidence. His pace is good and we plan to make a few minor changes to his set-up in the morning. If he can get away with the leaders he too could be a contender for a top position.”