FRONT ROW START FOR SWAN YAMAHA AT BRANDS HATCH The Swan Yamaha pairing of Michael Laverty and Tommy Hill will start the opening race of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch from the front row of the grid tomorrow after qualifying in third and fourth respectively. It was an intense qualifying session in the heat at Brands Hatch and after Hill and Laverty topped the overall times in the combined free practice session, confidence was high for the Swan Yamaha team. The pair comfortably made it through to the final stage of qualifying and pushed hard to both achieve the first front row starts of the new season. Laverty said: “I am pretty happy after qualifying today as I have never been a one lap wonder in qualifying, so a front row start was what we needed and that’s what we achieved. We have a good pace for tomorrow races and I know that we can challenge at the front. It would be great to be on the podium for the Swan Yamaha team at the first round of the season.” Hill said: “We have been good in every session and just building all the time. I knew I had something in reserve which I wanted to save until qualifying but we had a slight problem with grip. We are going to make a few minor tweaks tomorrow but I am feeling good and we want to challenge for podiums and give my home fans something to cheer about.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing had a tough opening day at the British Superbike Championship first round at Brands Hatch as Josh Brookes suffered several minor problems in BSB Qualifying and Alastair Seeley crashed out in the first of the Easter weekend’s two Supersport races challenging for the lead. Josh Brookes: “I’m disappointed with qualifying but I don’t want to make excuses. In my opinion we’re not just quite there yet and qualifying wasn’t a good showing. We made a few changes and I’ve a fair idea what the problem was, but as I say, I’m not going to make any excuses. I’m trying to stay upbeat as being annoyed is not going to help the situation. We will make a few changes for morning warm-up and see where we can improve.” Alastair Seeley: “I was catching Ben Wilson when I lost the front, so it’s good to be getting two bites at the cherry this weekend. The new GSX-R600 really felt great up to that point; it’s just a matter of sussing out what tyres to be using for tomorrow in this heat. I suppose it’s all down to rider preference. I’m okay and the bike’s not too bad after the crash, so we’ll reload for tomorrow and go chasing a podium.” Philip Neill – Team Manager: “Today was a big disappointment, there’s no hiding that. We’re taking the positives as we’ve spent most of the weekend on the back foot after Josh had a small crash and an electronic problem also cost us a whole session. It’s been a baptism of fire but we’ve been here before at Brands so no one is panicking. We have the pace on a race tyre and while it’s not an ideal grid position, if Josh can find a bit of consistency through the whole lap, we can come away with something from the weekend. “In the Supersport race we felt Alastair had a good set-up and tyre choice. The plan was to stay in the hunt early on and make his move towards the end, but unfortunately he made a small mistake. We’ll get back up and try again tomorrow. What I would say is he’s got to be able to run at this pace and not crash to be in the Championship race. “Guy Martin has made steady progression and the objective was to come here so he could gain as much knowledge as possible with the GSX-R1000 Superbike, and he’s doing that. He has been going faster with every session and that’s what we expected he would do. He’s competitive and would like to be further up the grid but his lap time is respectable.” Superbike Qualifying Positions: Josh Brookes – Row 3 [13th] Guy Martin – Row 7 [27th] More, from another press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Samsung Crescent Racing’s Jon Kirkham will start tomorrow’s opening round of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch from the second row, with team-mate John Hopkins just behind. It was a day of mixed fortunes for the Suzuki GSX-R1000-mounted team: For Superbike Rookie Kirkham, that meant joy as he backed up strong free practice rides with a seventh-fastest time in the final qualifying session. But for former MotoGP star John Hopkins, there was despair when he missed the cut-off for the final of the three qualifying sessions and found he will have to start tomorrow from 11th place. Jon Kirkham: “I’m very pleased with that; qualifying’s not gone too bad at all. I was hoping for a front row and I’d taken the strategy of using two out-laps then pushing for a fast one – after which we could expect the tyre to be done. And that strategy went well right up to Clearways on the fast-lap when it started spinning-up on the rear – and that’s all it takes around here to miss out on the time you need. One small difference… “That aside, I have to be very happy; we’ve stuck with our strategy from pre-season – ‘steady away…’ that’s almost our moto now. So for tomorrow I want to come away with two solid results. It’s a long season so there’s no need for big risks; I’ll look to make a clean start and stay out of trouble.” John Hopkins: “Today was good and bad. We did a good morning’s work setting consistently fast lap times – in the 45s – on used tyres, so we know we can run a good race pace. “In qualifying, Q1 went well and I got a good time, but in that second session I just started rushing the corners too much, I made a lot of mistakes and didn’t set the lap times I should have. I should have relaxed a bit and worked harder on the getting out of the turns. So I’ve given myself more work for tomorrow than I would like to have, but I’m a good starter so I’ll hopefully get away well and push hard for that busy first lap, make up as many places as I can; and not let anyone get away!” Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “Mixed fortunes today for us. Obviously I’m very, very pleased for JK. We’ve set realistic goals for him all along and he’s achieved all of these and more. If he can turn his qualifying into two top-six finishes tomorrow then we’ll be very happy. “For Hopper, it’s been a tough afternoon and he’s certainly getting to experience just how competitive BSB can be. We know he has top-five speed though, so he’ll be looking to make a strong start tomorrow and hopefully will get onto the tail of the lead group and see where he can go from there. “The team is working great, we’ve been working with a great set-up on the bikes; and have shown we’ve the speed to ride at the front. We’re still very much looking forward to the racing tomorrow.” MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Qualifying: 1. Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) 45.112s 2. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.080s 3. Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.168s 4. Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.212s 5. Loris Baz (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.408s 6. Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.494s 7. Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.515s 8. Tommy Bridewell (Tyco Honda) +0.703s 9. James Westmoreland (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.780S 10. Stuart Easton (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +0.947s 11. John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) (45.730s)