Editorial Note: American James Rispoli qualified seventh in British Supersport with a time of 46.779 seconds on his Team Traction Control Yamaha YZF-R6. Rispoli then DNF in Race One on Saturday.

Ellison under the lap record to secure Brands Hatch pole position

Results

Datatag Extreme Qualifying:

1: James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 45.310s

2: Jakub Smrz (Lloyds British Ducati) +0.257s

3: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.277s

4: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.336s

5: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) +0.366s

6: Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) +0.453s

Report

James Ellison claimed his first pole position of the 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season by pushing under the Brands Hatch Indy circuit lap record during Datatag Qualifying to fire his JG Speedfit Kawasaki to the top of the times ahead of Jakub Smrz and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

The intense Q3 session saw the position change at the top almost every lap in the final 10 minute battle for the pole start in a top ten that featured six different manufacturers and five different nationalities.

Ellison had been on the pace across the free practice sessions, but found that little bit extra in reserve to post a 45.310s flying lap to head off the intense challenges of Czech Republic rider Smrz on the Lloyds British Ducati.

Smrz had also been lapping inside the record to briefly head the time-sheets, but Ellison retaliated with two flying laps that broke the opposition which included Kiyonari, the three-time title-winner, and eager to make amends for his disappointment in the opening round. Buildbase BMW’s Kiyonari closed to within 0.020s of Smrz to secure an all-important front row start in third place amid a real scrap for positions.

Australian Josh Brookes had ridden hard aboard the Milwaukee Yamaha but had to settle for the fourth best time, just 0.059s down, narrowly ahead of reigning Champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne. The PBM Kawasaki rider, still suffering the effects of a serious hand injury sustained in pre-season testing, was 0.030s adrift, but just ahead of his team-mate Flying Scot Stuart Easton.

There were some riders rounding out the top ten who qualified for Q3 for the first time including Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran who heads the third row from Christian Iddon, riding the Bennetts Suzuki. Broc Parkes aboard the second Milwaukee Yamaha clawed his way up to ninth, just ahead of Jack Kennedy who bounced back from a big crash this morning to complete the top ten qualifiers for Team WD40 Kawasaki.

James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki)

Datatag Qualifying: P1

“I felt comfortable during qualifying and we have just been making steps forward. We have come through winter testing with a good programme and I feel I am a match now for the riders in front with the extra power we have this year.

“We always have a little bit in reserve and if I am honest I didn’t think we would get pole position in qualifying as Kiyo has been really strong and I have watched his laps and he has done long consistent runs. We now need to make sure we can do the same and I will do my best in the two races tomorrow and enjoy it too.”

More, from a press release issued by RAF Reserves BMW:

Eighth row at Brands for Hickman and RAF Reserves BMW

Peter Hickman and the RAF Reserves BMW team will line up on the eighth row of the grid for tomorrow’s second round of the 2015 MCE British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch after placing 22nd in a tough qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

As expected, it was incredibly tight around the small, 1.2-mile Indy circuit and after free practice, the overall times saw the top 30 riders separated by just one second and although Peter was only 0.7s off the pace-setting James Ellison, it left him back in 23rd place.

It left the 27-year old and the team with work to do for the solitary qualifying session and it again proved to be tough going. Changes to the BMW S1000RR saw Peter lap quicker than he had done all weekend, 46.349s, which initially put him in 13th place mid-way through the session. However, he gradually got pushed down the order and in the dying moments was knocked out of the all-important top 20.

It means he will head off the eighth row for Sunday’s first 30-lap race but with lap times remaining close, anything is possible and the Louth-based rider will be hopeful of making a major impression on the top ten tomorrow.

Peter Hickman: “We’ve been trying loads of different things on the bike these last two days, some of which haven’t really worked, and whilst it’s been getting better all the time, we’ve just ran out of time. I did my best lap of the weekend in Q1 and if I could have sneaked into Q2, more laps and more time on the bike would probably have seen me go quicker again. It’s so close but whilst my race pace is pretty good, I still need to find that little bit more.”

Lee Hardy, Team Owner: “We’ve probably tried too many things on the bike and whilst we thought trying new links was the right road to go down, it possibly wasn’t and we haven’t given Peter the track time he needed. The bike’s brand new to us and it’s hard to put a finger on what it is we’re exactly missing but it’s so close and just a couple of tenths would have put Peter inside the top ten. There’s a lot of bikes in front of us so, hopefully, Peter can be strong in race one and fight his way through the field to give us a good grid position for race two.”

Sunday’s two 30-lap races are due to get underway at 1.30pm and 4.30pm.

More, from a press release issued by Milwaukee Yamaha:

Second row start for Milwaukee Yamaha ahead of opening race at Brands Hatch

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes and Broc Parkes have taken consistent steps forward during the second day on track at Brands Hatch to qualify in fourth and ninth place respectively ahead of tomorrow’s two races at the second round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship.

Brookes had been pushing for a front row start but narrowly missed out by 0.059s, to secure fourth place on the grid for the opening race. Parkes also had a positive day to leap up the timesheets and into the top ten and confident of further improvements in warm up tomorrow.

Josh Brookes

P4 – 45.646s

“We’ve improved the bike as a whole, we’re quite consistent, but I made a lot of mistakes in qualifying – I don’t think we’ve found the sweet spot with the bike as it is at the moment. I can do fairly close to the fastest lap times, fairly regularly, so as a race set up goes, we’re in good form.

“I know in myself, from what I’ve felt with the bike that it can be better – especially that last corner. I love to run it wider and I have to slow down the bike a bit more to find the grip, to come back and I think I’m losing time there. It’s just putting it all together and tailoring it together, so it all works in conjunction, rather than just one good bit and then suffering somewhere else. Overall I’m quite positive about tomorrow.”

Broc Parkes

P9 – 46.330s

“I am actually pretty happy as after yesterday I wanted to be in the top ten. We made some big improvements and I felt much better – there was a better feeling with the bike and that showed.

“I struggled with the last corner where I hadn’t ridden the Indy circuit until yesterday, and that section is so crucial. I have been working on that and still have time to find out more in the warm-up session and take steps forwards. We will then try and fight hard in the races.”