MCE British Superbike Championship

Knockhill Circuit, UK

July 4, 2015

Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):

From Qualifying Session Three:

1. Shane Byrne, UK (Kawasaki), 48.153 seconds

2. Stuart Easton, UK (Kawasaki), 48.205

3. Josh Brookes, Australia (Yamaha), 48.219

4. Jason O’Halloran, Australia (Honda), 48.344

5. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Japan (BMW), 48.402

6. James Ellison, UK (Kawasaki), 48.501

7. Michael Laverty, UK (BMW), 48.521

8. Danny Buchan, UK (Kawasaki), 48.629

9. Dan Linfoot, UK (Honda), 48.657

10. Luke Mossey, UK (Kawasaki), 48.837

From Qualifying Session Two:

11. Peter Hickman, UK (BMW), 48.715

12. Tommy Bridewell, UK (BMW), 48.725

13. James Westmorland, UK (Kawasaki), 48.738

14. Josh Waters, Australia (Suzuki), 48.746

15. Christian Iddon, UK (Suzuki), 48.781

16. Lee Jackson, UK (BMW), 48.795

17. Richard Cooper, UK (Kawasaki), 48.833

18. Billy McConnell, Australia (BMW), 48.835

19. Howie Mainwaring Smart, UK (Kawasaki), 49.023

20. Michael Rutter, UK (Kawasaki), 49.126

From Qualifying Session One:

21. Jack Kennedy, Ireland (Kawasaki), 49.108

22. Filip Backlund, Sweden (Kawasaki), 49.202

23. Broc Parkes, Australia (Yamaha), 49.208

24. Jed Metcher, Australia (Kawasaki), 49.239

25. Taylor Mackenzie, UK (Kawasaki), 49.261

26. Joe Burns, UK (Kawasaki), 49.713

27. Shaun Winfield, UK (Kawasaki), 49.887

28. Jenny Tinmouth, UK (Honda), 50.292

29. Aaron Zanotti, UK (Yamaha), 50.336

30. Chris Walker, UK (Kawasaki), no time recorded

American James Rispoli qualified seventh in Motorpoint British Supersport with a lap time of 50.297 seconds on his Team Traction Control Yamaha YZF-R6. Rispoli then placed fifth in Saturday’s 18-lap Race One.

More, from a press release issued by MotorSport Vision:

Shakey claims Scottish pole despite qualifying crash at Knockhill

Results

Datatag Extreme Qualifying:

1: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 48.153s

2: Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) +0.052s

3: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.066s

4: Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.191s

5: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.249s

6: James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.348s

Report

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne clung on to claim pole position for the fifth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Knockhill despite a crash at the end of the Datatag Qualifying session as the PBM Kawasaki rider pushed to hold his advantage in Scotland.

The frantic action at the Knockhill circuit saw the order change consistently throughout the top ten in the final stages of qualifying and as Josh Brookes and Stuart Easton battled to bring down the champion at the top of the times; Byrne was sliding through the gravel in a bid to extend his advantage.

Byrne though had done just enough to hold on to pole position in the final minutes despite both his team-mate Easton and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Brookes also posting times inside the lap record as they closed in.

Honda’s Jason O’Halloran heads up the second row after he was bumped outside the top three in the closing five minutes of the session, holding off an improving Ryuichi Kiyonari who was putting in his best times of the weekend when it mattered most on the Buildbase BMW.

James Ellison was sixth fastest for JG Speedfit Kawasaki despite the pain of a broken rib, forcing Michael Laverty back to the third row in seventh on his Tyco BMW. MCE BSB rookie Danny Buchan qualified in the top ten for the third time this season in eighth position with Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot and Luke Mossey on the Quattro Plant Kawasaki completing the top ten who are separated by just 0.684s.

For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki)

Datatag Qualifying position: 1st – 48.153s

“I’m a little bit surprised with the outcome of qualifying. We all know what we think is an achievable lap time, and I planned for the time I thought I could do in that last session. I pushed hard, but it seemed like I was sliding on every single corner exit on the last run. I did a time that was good enough for pole, and a couple more close to it – but I think the rear tyre maybe wasn’t as good.

“I thought ‘oh ok, I’ll run in a little hotter and be a bit more careful on the exit with the throttle,’ but trying that on my second lap I went into Clarkes like normal, released the brakes a little earlier to try and carry a bit more speed, and tucked the front tyre.

“It’s frustrating for that to happen, but at the end of the day I’m happy with the result. It’s PBM one-two, the times have been close; but I just thought we had maybe another two tenths or so there.

“I think for tomorrow we’ve worked really hard on race pace. Yesterday afternoon, my best lap time – that would have got us fairly high up today’s grid – came from the thirty third lap on the tyre. From that view, we should be cool – and with the times as close as they are, it should make for some pretty exciting racing!

“The qualifying is incredibly close, but I think tomorrow four or five of us will be able to go off at the front and hopefully one of those will be able to go off a little bit further! There’ll be come cool battles, because it’s a track that lends itself to that. “

More, from a press release issued by Milwaukee Yamaha:

Front row start for Brookes and Milwaukee Yamaha at Knockhill

Josh Brookes maintained his unbroken run of front row qualifying performances at Knockhill today, claiming third position on the grid for tomorrow’s opening race at the fifth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship.

The team were faced with changing conditions when track action got underway after midday as the track continued to dry and the times began to tumble in the final free practice session. Both Brookes and team-mate Broc Parkes headed into Datatag Qualifying ready to make further changes in their quest for a big points haul in the two races tomorrow.

Brookes had spent time at the top of the timesheets before he was later pushed back to third, but with 0.066s separating him from the pole position he is feeling confident of fighting to add to his podium tally tomorrow.

It was another tough session for Parkes, as he continued to get to grips with Knockhill he narrowly missed out on a position in Q2 and now will start 23rd on the grid.

Josh Brookes

“It was quite tough but I am quite pleased with the lap time, although I am never happy with third! We have been trying to put a good race pace together over the weekend, of course we want to be fastest, but for us we have been working on various things to make us faster over the race distance.

“We have been working on fuel maps to try and use less fuel to try and make the bike better at the beginning of the race and it has felt better. The last lap that I did in qualifying was actually my fastest lap so that was good. There are a lot of positives to take from that session although we are not on pole position. I feel that we are in a place where we can be confident going into the races.”

Broc Parkes

“To be honest I was starting to feel better in the dry conditions and I felt that we could have found some more time with some extra laps, but the weather kind of messed that up. I just missed out on the top 20 by a tenth and that shows just how close it is here and that a small improvement can make the difference. I made some mistakes on my best laps and I felt pretty frustrated to not have been higher on the grid. I think the only plan I can have is to attack as much as I can in the races tomorrow.”