Samsung Crescent Racing’s John Hopkins will start from second place on the front row of the grid at tomorrow’s first race of the fourth round of the British Superbikes Championship at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire as team-mate Jon Kirkham starts from P13. In what’s been an impressive build-up for Hopkins – who is making his debut at the circuit – he’s consistently stayed inside the top-10 in free practice on his GSX-R1000 Suzuki, lowering his lap time by half-a-second each session. In qualifying he recovered from a testing second qualifying session – when a defective tyre cost him precious grip – to storm the final session with a time barely 1/100th-of-a-second off pole position. Kirkham – a winner at the last round at Croft – pushed hard to improve his set-up through practice and had just entered the top 10 yesterday afternoon when he crashed at Goodwood. His bike was repaired overnight but a small technical glitch, resulting from the crash, cost him precious time in final practice. Kirkham, too, was to suffer tyre issues in Q2 and so failed to make the final qualifying session. He starts tomorrow’s first race from the fourth row. John Hopkins: “It’s been an interesting weekend so far, learning the track from scratch. This is another one where you can’t hurry the learning process. You must ride so hard here, like flat out in fifth gear, when cranked to the edge of the tyre – with the track dropping away – so it’s critical to have a good understanding of what’s coming and a good feel for what’s going on. “Most importantly: I have to give so much credit to my crew, and crew chief Lez Pearson for giving me such a great bike – hats off to them; they really know what I like in a bike. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow!” Jon Kirkham: “We didn’t start the weekend too badly and I found I felt ok on the bike despite being sore after the Croft crash. Then yesterday afternoon’s crash at Goodwood really set us back. That’s a fast corner to crash on and it did knock my confidence. It didn’t do my crew any favours either; another rebuild after they’d already rebuilt the bike after the Croft crash. “In qualifying what I was missing was a good tow to bring my time up; many of the best times have come by using the slipstream of another rider. I was set up to get a tow off Chris Walker in Q2 when he went on the grass so I didn’t get the full benefit and my time just wasn’t enough. But I’m feeling good for tomorrow. The last three practice/ qualifiers have all been troubled for me but we have had the speed for the race, so I’m looking to improve.” Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “Hopper has chipped away at the job all weekend and as ever he’s overcome every hurdle and put himself in one of the strongest positions for tomorrow’s first race. The races are very much going to be about tyre management, saving the best until last, but I’m sure that Hopper will be on top of the situation. There is an opportunity here to grab the Championship lead and build up some very good points and we’ll look to do that, but we know the Championship is long and there’s the ‘reset’ when we get to the Showdown phase, so we’re taking each step as it comes. “For JK he’s had another less than perfect run-up to the races. He was going well, building up his speed steadily when he crashed. That created a further set-back in final practice. He suffered the same tyres/ grip issues as Hopper in Q2 but wasn’t able to find enough speed to stay in the running. I’m sure – as JK has proved every race – that he’ll improve dramatically come race day.” MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Qualifying: 1 Alex Lowes (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) 1m: 14.891s 2 John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.016s 3 Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.022s 4 Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.126s 5 Peter Hickman (Tyco Honda) +0.154s 6 Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.199s 7 Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.235s 8 Loris Baz (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.277s 9 James Westmoreland (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.441s 10 Dan Linfoot (Sorrymate.com Honda) +1.206s 13 Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing) 1m 15.616s More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Alastair Seeley took his fourth British Supersport podium of the year with second place during the opening race of the Bank Holiday weekend at Thruxton today as his Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team-mate Josh Brookes qualified his GSX-R1000 Superbike on row four for tomorrow’s opening British Superbike race. Fresh from his North West 200 International Road Racing victory last weekend on the all-new GSX-R600 Suzuki, Seeley qualified on the middle of the second row and from there he got embroiled in a race-long battle that saw the top five riders covered by less than 7/10ths-of-a-second at the chequered flag. Alastair Seeley: “I didn’t get as good a start as I normally do, but I got up to third place and chased down Wilson and Kennedy before Jack eventually tucked the front. I could hear a Triumph on my bumper the whole race but wasn’t sure who it was. So with four laps to go I tried to make a break for it but they were able to slipstream me back. In the last two laps I sat back and waited until the final chicane and got past the two front men, but McConnell braked that bit later than me and nipped in for the win. It was really tight but a good race and just what British Supersport racing is all about. Thruxton is hard on tyres so in the longer race tomorrow it will all be about preserving them. And if the forecast is correct, the rain may even come into play.” Josh Brookes: “We’re not miles away, but it feels like we are miles away! I don’t know what to say; if I did I suppose I’d be going quicker, but every round so far we’ve had to come from less than average qualifying positions. It’s not a sprint and there are plenty of laps in the race to make up the places – it’s just annoying I suppose that it takes us so long to get up to speed on a weekend. I’m really not too concerned though as I know I’m a better racer than a qualifier, although it would be better for the team if we were closer to the front in qualifying.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “It’s just a pity that opening Supersport race was not live on TV as it was a thrilling race to watch. Alastair really is on a high at the minute and he had a good plan out there today, but Billy made the best of a four-rider slipstream to take the win; that’s racing. Just like he was at the NW200, Alastair was brilliant on the brakes on the wee GSX-R600 today, but it was a good race for the Championship with more solid points and he now moves into second place in the overall table. “Unfortunately we are still in this mode with Josh working towards race set-up all the time and this weekend it has taken us more time than we anticipated, maybe trying to over-correct things after fitting a new tank and seat unit. But we are now making strides forward and are confident with the set-up for race one. We are hopeful of mixing it at the front in the races tomorrow as Josh has shown as he doesn’t have a problem making passes from wherever he qualifies. In saying that we need to look at making his job easier in the future and that will mean qualifying higher up the grid.” Supersport Race 1: 1 Billy McConnell [Triumph] 15min 39.066; 2 Alastair Seeley [Relentless Suzuki by TAS] +0.113; 3 Ben Wilson [Kawasaki] +0.294; 4 Sam Warren [Yamaha] +0.508; 5 Dean Hipwell [Yamaha] +0.698; 6 Paul Young [Triumph] +2.521. British Superbike Qualifying: 1. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) 1m: 14.891s 2. John Hopkins (Suzuki) +0.016s 3. Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +0.022s 4. Michael Rutter (Ducati) +0.126s 5. Peter Hickman (Honda) +0.154s 6. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +0.199s 7. Michael Laverty (Yamaha) +0.235s 8. Loris Baz (Yamaha) +0.277s 9. James Westmoreland (Yamaha) +0.441s 10. Dan Linfoot (Honda) +1.206s 14 Josh Brookes [Relentless Suzuki by TAS] More, from a press release issued by Swan Yamaha: SWAN YAMAHA SECURE FRONT ROW START AT THRUXTON Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s opening race at the fourth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Thruxton after qualifying third fastest whilst Michael Laverty will start from the row two. Hill had topped the second of the three qualifying sessions and then was ready to challenge for his second pole position of the season, however in the final stages he missed out by just 0.022 seconds but is feeling confident he can challenge for victory tomorrow. Michael Laverty continued to work on getting the best possible set-up for tomorrow’s two races and will start from seventh on the grid and is happy with the progress that has been made by the Swan Yamaha team. Hill said: “We have tried to muscle on again this weekend and I have put the injury to the back of my mind and so far have been consistent throughout the sessions. We wanted another front row here and that’s what we achieved but we are happy with our pace for tomorrow’s races. We did a good time in the second session and then we were just unfortunate in Q3, but we are happy enough so tomorrow it will be a case of just needing to get stuck in and try and get the Swan Yamaha back on the podium.” Laverty said: “I am pretty happy with how things went today, obviously I didn’t get the lap time in that I wanted in the final qualifying session but we have a good set-up and I believe we will be in a stronger position over the second part of the race due to our hard work. It could all be in vain if the weather changes tomorrow but either way we are hoping for two consistent finishes tomorrow.”