BSB Brands Hatch Qualifying
Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe completed a
successful but rain-hit qualifying session at Brands Hatch
in Kent today, finishing in fifth and ninth places respectively.
The 50-minute session took place in cooler conditions than
yesterday's free practice but came to a premature halt with
5 minutes left to run due to heavy rain hitting the challenging
2.3 mile circuit. Sykes improved his times from the morning
free practice session and was running close to a front row
position when the rain started to fall.
"My lap times improved by 1.5secs taking us from 1min
28s this morning to 1min 26s, so just one more step forward
and we will be there," explained Sykes. "I'm disappointed
at missing out on the front row but we have been working on
improving front end feel. I was on the front row of the grid
and just got pipped as I came in for some adjustments.
"Shame the rain started as I think the lap I was on
would have put me and my Rizla Suzuki on the front row for
sure. The second row of the grid is ok I feel a podium is
achievable from there. I'm looking forward to race day tomorrow.
We have a few changes to make and looking at the data we can
make another step forward so I can't wait to get racing."
Watanabe continued to impress on his UK debut placing his
Rizla Suzuki within the top ten which was the team's aim.
He spent his free practice sessions learning the demanding
circuit and progressively dropped his lap times, improving
by 1sec from free practice to qualifying.
"I am not so happy being ninth," he said. "I
wanted to be top five but my team is happy and we all work
well together. I am still learning the track but now I look
forward to the race that will teach me more."
Team Manager Jack Valentine was happy with the team's progress
over the weekend. He commented: "I'm pleased with how
qualifying has gone. Shame it rained as Tom was on a quick
lap and would have made the front row of the grid. Watanabe
has been fantastic; we had hoped for top ten, and that is
what he has achieved. He is competitive and has beaten riders
who have raced here for years on his first time on track.
All in all it has been a solid qualifying. We have good race
set-up so I'm looking forward to it."
Pole position was taken by Ducati's Shane Byrne with a time
of 1min 25.832secs.
Racing gets under way tomorrow with race one at 1345 and race
two at 1630.
Qualifying Results:
1: Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1:25.832
2: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +0.323
3: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +0.532
4: Leon Haslam (Honda) +0.720
5: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) +0.809
6: Leon Camier (Ducati) +1.001
7: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +1.094
8: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +1.142
9: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) +2.061
10: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +2.1 05
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