LAVILLA TAKES POLE AT OULTON PARK
Both Airwaves Ducati’s will start round 4 of the Bennetts
British Superbike championship from the front row, having
come 1st and 3rd in qualifying today. Gregorio Lavilla set
the fastest time of the day under grey skies, to achieve his
first pole position of the season. Leon Haslam finished 0.492
seconds behind in 3rd.
Changeable weather conditions just before qualifying meant
that it was not obvious whether it would be a wet or dry session;
however a late decision was taken to declare it dry. The Airwaves
Ducati riders were amongst the first out on track, as they
were keen to record some fast laps in case of further rain.
However the rain held off and as the racing line dried times
decreased dramatically. With 15 minutes of the session remaining
Greg was the first rider to record a sub 1:36 second lap,
taking the lead from Leon with a time of 1:35.799. Kiyonari
briefly went into pole position before Greg set the best time
of the day, 1:35.430 to take 1st place from the Honda rider.
Leon’s best time of the day, 1:35.922 resulted in 3rd
place on the grid.
Having secured Airwaves Ducati and Dunlop’s first pole
position of the year, the current championship leader, Gregorio
Lavilla, commented; “It was my priority to get on the
front row today, so I am very pleased to be on pole position.
I am feeling good for the race tomorrow but we will have to
see what the weather is like. It will be a gamble for everybody
if it rains, but we have done well in the wet in the past
so I am confident that we will be competitive whatever the
conditions.”
Leon Haslam was also pleased with his performance saying,
“I’m really happy with how we have done today
and it is great to get a front row start. I got held up on
my qualifying lap so to end up 3rd is a good result for me.
We are still one second off of last years pace but the race
set up on the bike is really good, now we just need to wait
and see what the weather is going to do!”
Race one starts at 1pm tomorrow with the second race commencing
at 4.08pm.
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