Top Gun: Redding claims Thruxton pole position by 0.059s

Scott Redding claimed his third pole position of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship season with a last lap dash in the final two minutes of the final Datatag Qualifying session as he snatched the top spot from Tommy Bridewell at Thruxton.

The final stage of Qualifying was extended to 12 minutes when light rain began to fall, but with it stopping and starting during the crucial final stage, the battle for pole went down to the wire with the fastest rider changing eight times before the chequered flag.

Initially Christian Iddon had tried to set an early lap time and he went to the top of the timing screens for Tyco BMW ahead of Bridewell, but a few minutes later Andrew Irwin had surged to the top, however just 60 seconds later his brother Glenn claimed the leading position.

Redding had been tentative initially when the session got underway but then with six minutes on the clock he fired the Be Wiser Ducati to the top of the times, but he didn’t maintain it to the finish as Bridewell then posted his fastest lap of the session to put the Oxford Racing Ducati ahead of the opposition.

However Redding was ready to go for another time attack in the fight for pole position and he launched ahead with less than two minutes on the clock to bag the top time in Datatag Qualifying ahead of Bridewell.

Peter Hickman had been moving back up the order in the closing stages after a positive start and he was able to seal his second front row qualifying performance of the season. Josh Brookes will head the second row; the Be Wiser Ducati rider decided to hold out in the opening stages of the session but he was able to move into fourth, pushing the racing brothers Andrew and Glenn into fifth and sixth respectively.

Ryan Vickers had his strongest qualifying performance of his rookie season in seventh place ahead of Jason O’Halloran and Iddon who completed the riders in Q3 for Tyco BMW. However it was disappointment for Tarran Mackenzie who crashed out in the opening stage of Datatag Qualifying, sustaining a left wrist fracture, the same injury sustained by Joe Francis, which both riders now unfit ahead of tomorrow’s two races.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Thruxton, Datatag Qualifying:

Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:14.803s

Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing Ducati) +0.059s

Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.502s

Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.668s

Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) +0.733s

Glenn Irwin (Tyco BMW) +0.774s

Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) +0.940s

Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +1.101s

Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +1.139s

For more information on the Bennetts British Superbike Championship visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Scott Redding – Be Wiser Ducati

Pole position

“I am so happy to be on pole here. These guys [Bridewell and Hickman] sound like they had a strategy going on in that session listening to what they just said! I haven’t got time for strategies this weekend, with zero laps around here before I just need to try and learn everything I can at every moment.

“I’m making mistakes, but I’m pushing on the limit. Then it started raining and basically the guys in the team said to me this track is super grippy in the rain so you should be alright, so I took that on the shoulder and I took the chance.

“I saw some of the boys putting hands up and I saw Tommy going out on his used tyre; seeing all these things I just thought to myself I’m going to do my own thing. I was going to go in the pits but then I saw Irwin go in, but I decided to just go and take a chance. I stuck it into Church, it was raining a bit, and I had both wheels sliding but I just thought to myself “hold it for one more lap”.

“To come away with the pole was something I didn’t real expect today, but for sure something that I wanted. I have been working on race distance as I hear a lot of talk about saving the tyres and I was in a rhythm and I think that helped. I am happy and now I am looking forward to some good races tomorrow!”

More, from a press release issued by Be Wiser Ducati:

Redding Storms To Thruxton Pole, Brookes Fourth

Be Wiser Ducati’s Scott Redding claimed his third pole position of the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Scott ReddingChampionship when he topped the Datatag Extreme Qualifying session at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire this afternoon with team-mate Josh Brookes claiming fourth position.

The local ace from Quedgeley in Gloucestershire had once again quickly got to grips with another circuit he was seeing for the first time and after the three free practice sessions, he was quickest on the combined times with a lap of 1m 14.916s giving him a 0.189s advantage over Danny Buchan. Aussie Brookes was in seventh overall but only four tenths of a second in arrears.

Qualifying got underway under cloudy skies and both riders, as expected, comfortably progressed from Q1, with the duo doing all they needed to do on the factory-supported Be Wiser Ducati Panigale V4 R during the 18-minute session.

Q2 was held over the shorter period of 12 minutes and saw Redding and Brookes up their tempo and they went first and third quickest after just their first flying lap. Brookes’ second lap saw him overhaul his team-mate but although Honda’s Andrew Irwin went to the top of the leaderboard, second and third quickest overall saw Josh and Scott progress to the all-important Q3.

Spots of rain delayed the final session slightly and it was subsequently increased from eight minutes to 12 with lap times initially more than four seconds slower than what they had been previously. However, the track rapidly dried and it was Redding who went quickest with two rapid laps putting him over half a second clear of Peter Hickman. Brookes, meanwhile, opted to stay in the pits for the first half of the session but his first flying lap saw him leap up to fourth.

Tommy Bridewell briefly knocked Redding off the top spot, but the former GP ace immediately retaliated and a lap of 1m 14.803s ultimately sealed his third pole position. 2015 BSB champion Brookes remained in fourth which will see him start tomorrow’s race from the head of the second row.

Scott Redding: “It was a bit scary out there when the raindrops began to fall and although many people had told me how much grip the circuit has, when you’re doing 150mph and there’s rain on your visor, it’s not that easy! I wasn’t sure how much grip there would be or how the bike would work and although I stayed out a bit longer than I intended initially, it all worked out well in the end. I wasn’t expecting pole so it’s nice to get the job done and start tomorrow’s first race from the top spot.”

Josh Brookes: “I’ve been struggling all weekend with edge grip and I’m just searching for that bit extra Josh Brookesfrom myself as well to help put me in a better position. I’m in a competitive range and the bike’s turning well, holding its line well and stopping so if I can just improve the edge grip, I think we’ll be a lot stronger in the races. I don’t want to make too many changes as that strategy didn’t reap the rewards at Snetterton but it’s worth trying something in morning warm-up and see how it works. The rain wasn’t easy to deal with either and I rode a bit too conservatively as it’s not easy to push as hard as you want when there’s rain on your visor so I think there’s more to come from me tomorrow.”

Johnny Mowatt, Team Co-ordinator: “Once again, Scott’s visiting a circuit for the first time but it’s fair to say he learns them quickly and he’s been able to be quick straightaway. He’s been working hard on his race pace like the majority of teams and riders have as tyre life is the sole priority at Thruxton, so we’ve got to be happy. The aim is to keep the momentum rolling and keep his confidence up but we’re ready for two battles tomorrow as I don’t think anyone will run away with either of the races. Josh has been missing that last little bit this weekend and is searching for something extra, but he made a change after Q1 and his lap times significantly improved, and we’ve got both bikes on the front two rows so we’re happy with that. We’ll hopefully keep our noses clean in the early stages and the plan is to continue our Snetterton form in tomorrow’s races.”

Qualifying results

1 Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m14.803s

2 Tommy Bridewell (Ducati) +0.059s

3 Peter Hickman (BMW) +0.502s

4 Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.668s

5 Andrew Irwin (Honda) +0.733s

6 Glenn Irwin (BMW) +0.774s

For further information, please visit the team’s website, www.pbmuk.net and the official website of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship www.pbmuk.net

More, from a press release issued by