POLE POSITION FOR BYRNE AND AIRWAVES DUCATI
Shane Byrne rode the quickest lap of the weekend to secure
pole position in round one of the British Superbike Championship
at Brands Hatch today. Leon Camier put in a strong performance
to place himself 6th on the grid for tomorrow’s races.
Having set the fastest time in final practice this morning
Shane was confident going into qualifying. His pole winning
time of 1:25.832, set on Pirelli tyres, is only one tenth
short of the current lap record set in 2007 by Gregorio Lavilla.
Once he had set his quickest time on lap 10 of 11, he did
not return to the track and his pole position was unthreatened
for the remainder of the session.
Shane was clearly delighted with his day saying; “I
was chatting with the team earlier and we reckoned that the
pole position time would be 1:26.5 as it has been a lot colder
today than this morning and yesterday. I felt good when I
first went out but then on my second Pirelli it all came together
brilliantly and I dipped into the 1:25’s. I was pretty
confident I had set the best time of the session and I think
even without the rain cutting qualifying slightly short it
still would have been good enough for pole. I have to thank
the whole Airwaves Ducati team, they have done a great job
and this has been a perfect start to the season, bring on
tomorrow.”
Leon exceeded the team’s expectations with his performance
in practice and he had specific aims for today’s qualifying
session. He completed an impressive 25 laps, more than anybody
else in the field, his quickest time of 1:26.833 came on his
penultimate lap putting him in 6th.
He commented afterwards; “I am happy with that, although
I feel a bit sore now! If I can string those times together
consistently then I think I can secure a good result. To not
be 100% fit and still be close to the top of the field feels
good. I think that the likes of Shane, Haslam and Crutchlow
will be in the leading pack in the race but if I can stick
as close to them as possible and conserve my Pirelli tyres
then I should leave Brands in a fairly strong position.”
QUALIFYING RESULT
1. Shane Byrne – Airwaves Ducati 1:25.832
2. Cal Crutchlow – HM Plant Honda 1:26.155
3. Karl Harris – Team Yamaha 1:26.364
4. Leon Haslam – HM Plant Honda 1:26.552
5. Tom Sykes – Rizla Suzuki 1:26.641
6. Leon Camier – Airwaves Ducati 1:26.833
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