Byrne under lap record to take pole from Brookes at Knockhill
Datatag Extreme Qualifying:
1: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 48.333s
2: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.010s
3: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) +0.316s
4: Jon Kirkham (Buildbase BMW) +0.650s
5: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Samsung Honda) +0.653s
6: PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +0.735s
Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, the defending champion set an incredible pace in this afternoon’s MCE Insurance British Superbike qualifying session at Knockhill to claim pole position for the fourth round with a time inside his own lap record set back in 2006.
The Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider had been embroiled in a three-way fight for the pole position as standings leader Alex Lowes and Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes both made an assault for the top spot, but Byrne proved that he means business at Knockhill.
Byrne said: “I’m really pleased with this, my first flying lap was good, but then Josh Brookes came through and I thought I just had to go for it. I had a few moments on the lap, but here we are. I wanted to get that pole position for my wife Petra who is unwell; hopefully that will give her something to smile about and thanks to everyone for sending her their best wishes.”
“Our race pace is good but we have a bit of work to do and a few little tweaks to make to perfect it for the race, but to come here and do this, ahead of teams who have tested here before, is good and we are in pretty good shape for the races,” added Byrne who is intent on overturning the single point deficit he has on Lowes in the standings.
Tyco Suzuki’s Brookes was just 0.010 seconds adrift of Byrne after admitting to some mistakes on his final lap dash to try and claim the pole position, whilst Lowes qualified third fastest aboard the Samsung Honda to secure an all important front row start at this short, but demanding circuit.
Jon Kirkham just missed out on a front row start for Buildbase BMW and heads the resurgent three-times title winner Ryuichi Kiyonari by just 0.003 seconds on the second Samsung Honda. Young American rider PJ Jacobsen aboard the second Tyco Suzuki completes row two.
— Milwaukee Yamaha Report
The Milwaukee Yamaha team returned to Knockhill today determined to make steps forward following a tough opening day at the Fife circuit in free practice with both James Ellison and Josh Waters making improvements to move them closer to their rivals.
Ellison qualified thirteenth on the grid for tomorrow’s opening race but the Brands Hatch race winner and his crew have some changes to make for warm up in their bid to come out fighting in the races tomorrow in Scotland. Waters was unlucky to miss out on Q2 as he returned to the garage he dropped two positions in the final seconds which saw him finish in nineteenth position.
Ellison said: “We made some big improvements and that showed if you looked at the times we did today, but we just needed to find that extra tenth to get inside the top ten for Q3. Unfortunately we had the red flag and I went out knowing we had one shot and I made a few mistakes trying too hard and equalled the time I had set already. We can do these times now so now we just need to raise the bar again in the morning; I have my homework for tonight and we will work hard again in warm up to see if we can make some more steps for the races.”
Waters said: “I feel it was better today after we made a big change and I went 0.6 seconds faster than yesterday. We thought that would be ok to put us through to the second qualifying session but after the chequered flag I got knocked back two places and that put me out. It was unlucky and now looking at it at the end I should have been out on track pushing to try and get a better time but you can never be sure. I’ll try hard whatever the conditions tomorrow to try and just get more feeling. I think I have some things we have looked at this evening and I will sleep on it which hopefully will make the difference.”
— Tyco Suzuki Report
Josh Brookes was instantly back in the BSB groove today following a fortnight at the Isle of Man TT, taking second place in British Superbike qualifying at Knockhill in Scotland.
The Tyco Suzuki rider narrowly missed-out on pole position by just a100th-of-a-second to title rival Shane Byrne in the third and final qualifying session, but will start tomorrow’s opening race at round four from the front row in second place.
Tyco Suzuki team-mate PJ Jacobsen also had a productive day on his BSB debut at the Scottish venue, impressively making the final qualifying session, before taking sixth place and a second-row grid spot for tomorrow’s opening 30-lap race at 1pm.
Josh Brookes: “People were quick to say that it would take me a while to get back up to speed on the short circuits after the TT and I sort of resented that. If you can do 10 years of what I’ve been doing, and then go to the roads and go as quick as I did, then you should be able to turn around and go back to the circuits and be on the pace quick enough – like I have done.
“I’ve done my personal best round here in qualifying and the bike is working well. I’ve done quite a few quick laps and a couple at the peak time so I’m happy enough with that. The qualifying is more about the front row than pole position, as it’s really difficult to pass around here, so we are in a good position to fight it out in race one.”
PJ Jacobsen: “It’s really good to get a decent qualifying in; my best so far in British Superbike. I’m just learning the track more-and-more so the more laps I get, the better at this stage. It was also really good to get behind Josh and see what he was doing different than me, so yeah it sets me up well for the opening race tomorrow.”
Taylor Mackenzie scored points in today’s opening British Supersport race posting 14th place on his GSX-R600 in a shortened 13-lap encounter.
Philip Neill – Team Manager: “It’s good to see Josh getting back into BSB mode so quickly after his TT exploits and his consistency today was impressive. As he says, the front row is an important starting position and sets us up well for race one. I’m also delighted for PJ who arrived here with a successful test at Kirkistown under his belt, which was a confidence-booster after such a long break. He’s done well today and the second row will give him an opportunity to run with the faster guys and learn even more in the first race tomorrow.
“The shortened Supersport race didn’t give Taylor a good shot at a top 10, but thankfully he will get another run tomorrow over 26 laps.”