RAIN HALTS PROGRESS AT SNETTERTON
2008 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Rounds 9 & 10 - Snetterton, Norfolk
14th/15th June 2008
Following on from this morning's dry free practice session,
the typical British weather played a major part during qualifying
for round five of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship
at Snetterton today.
The 50-minute qualifying session got underway in dry conditions
under blue skies with Hydrex Bike Animal Honda riders James
Ellison and Guy Martin feeling confident about setting a good
time for tomorrow's two 21-lap races.
Initially Ellison was as high as fourth in the early stages
of the session with Martin down the order in twentieth place
and looking to improve, but James eventually dropped down
to tenth half way through the session as the team continued
improvements on the 2008 Honda Fireblade.
However any hopes that Ellison and Martin had of improving
were dashed when drizzle on part of the circuit turned into
heavier rain which put an end to any further fast times meaning
that the pair ended in those tenth and twentieth places respectively
on the grid.
There was still time for further drama during the session
when Martin went to do some exploratory laps on the wet tyres,
but sadly it ended when he slid off at The Esses late in the
session fortunately without injury.
James Ellison: "I'm disappointed with
that, I should be a lot higher and the bike and the team deserve
to be higher. We changed a lot on the bike and the bike is
easier to ride. I just came in for a new tyre and we were
fourth and then I went back out and got stuck behind a couple
of back markers and then it started to rain. I seem to be
losing drive on the start/finish but we've got a plan for
tomorrow and hopefully if it's dry in the morning we have
some electronics to try and I always go better in the race
anyway. I'm disappointed but quietly confident."
Guy Martin: "Rome wasn't built in a
day and I've had three weeks of road racing and now I'm trying
to do short circuit racing again and it takes me a bit of
time to get my brain calibrated. We'll be fine tomorrow because
I'm more of a racer than a qualifier."
Shaun Muir (Team Owner): "It's good
to be back at BSB after such a disappointing TT fortnight.
I still think we're capable of getting on the podium even
with James qualifying down in tenth. I think had we had another
couple of dry laps we could have got a quicker time, possibly
a front row start. I think his results will be a lot higher
than his start position. It will take a bit of time for Guy
to get back in the short circuit mode but I'm sure after this
meeting he'll be back on form for Mallory."
The first of the two 21-lap races gets underway at 1.15pm
on Sunday with the second at 4.30pm.
Qualifying
1, Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1m05.162s, 2, Cal Crutchlow (Honda)
1m05.261s, 3, Leon Camier (Ducati) 1m05.420s, 4, Leon Haslam
(Honda) 1m05.497s, 5, Tom Sykes (Suzuki) 1m05.540s, 6, Karl
Harris (Yamaha) 1m05.905s, 7, Michael Rutter (Ducati) 1m05.941s,
8, Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 1m06.007s, 9, Billy McConnell
(Kawasaki) 1m06.082s, 10, James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal
Honda) 1m06.113s. 20, Guy Martin (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda)
1m07.528s.
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