2008 Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Rounds 1 & 2 - Brands Hatch GP, Kent
 THIRD
AND FOURTH ROWS FOR HYDREX BIKE ANIMAL HONDA
Hydrex Bike Animal Honda riders James Ellison and Guy Martin
will start from rows three and four of the grid at the rescheduled
first round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship
at Brands Hatch tomorrow.
After the first round on 5th/6th April was abandoned due
to snow, it was announced that the qualification times would
be carried forward to this weekend's rescheduled round.
26 year old Martin originally qualified in 14th place, with
team mate Ellison in 18th however with three riders absent
from the grid this weekend, Martin has been elevated to 12th
position on the third row, and Ellison will start from 15th
on row four.
27 year old James Ellison will be hoping to continue on his
good form from last weekend when he recorded his and the team's
best result with a superb second place finish, while Guy Martin
will be looking to improve the set up of his Honda Fireblade
in readiness for the North West 200 next week.
Shaun Muir (Team Owner): "It's a shame
it wasn't a proper qualifying session as James would have
been on the third row but hopefully he will get a good start
as we've got an alternative clutch arrangement which we tried
in the second race at Oulton Park and it was definitely of
benefit at the start. Hopefully he can get away with the faster
guys and a podium isn't out of the question. Guy just wants
some solid points in readiness for the North West 200."
James Ellison: "We've made some improvements
since we were last here but the bike is still a long way out
and we're struggling with rear grip at the minute. We've been
experimenting on both bikes but there just isn't enough time
really, we've only had about a third of the time that we'd
normally have due to the qualifying already being sorted.
We left Oulton Park on a high but I'm sure the guys will sort
the problem out and I'm looking forward to two good strong
races tomorrow."
Guy Martin: "We've got the old forks
back in and now I feel like I'm getting there. I can understand
the reasons why the boys want me to use the new forks, but
they just didn't work for me. This is the first time that
I feel the bike is good enough for me and we're not a million
miles away so I'm hoping for a couple of top eight finishes
tomorrow. All comes to he who waits."
The first of the two 20-lap races gets underway at 1.15pm
with the second at 4.20pm on Sunday.
Grid Positions
1, Shane Byrne (Ducati), 2, Cal Crutchlow (Honda), 3, Leon
Haslam (Honda), 4, Tom Sykes (Suzuki), 5, Leon Camier (Ducati),
6, Simon Andrews (Yamaha), 7, Michael Rutter (Ducati), 8,
Atsushi Watanabe (Suzuki), 9, Michael Laverty (Suzuki), 10,
Billy McConnell (Kawasaki), 11, Stuart Easton (Kawasaki),
12, Guy Martin (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda), 13, James Buckingham
(Honda), 14, John Laverty (Ducati), 15, James Ellison (Hydrex
Bike Animal Honda), 16, Scott Smart (Kawasaki).
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