Shane “Shakey” Byrne overcame the issues of the opening day at Oulton Park to fire in a lap under the lap record to claim his first pole position of the 2014 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season.
Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Byrne broke the challenge of Aussie Josh Brookes at the Cheshire circuit with a stunning lap of the 2.69-mile circuit as he bids to add to his winning tally from the opening round at Brands Hatch in the races tomorrow (Bank Holiday Monday).
Byrne said: “I was pretty excited when that time popped up. We had done a 1m:34.9s on a used tyre, so I knew that I could make some improvements but that time is great. Now we have to make the right choice, depending on track temperatures, on tyres for the race but we have done our homework on them so hope we will make the right decision,” added Byrne.
Brookes who has been pushing him hard throughout the weekend on the Milwaukee Yamaha was 0.327s down on his rival, but vowed to fight back in the races. “We can do the times lap after lap so I have to accept second this time, but I tried really hard to get it back. Tomorrow and the races is what it is all about though so we will see what we can do then.”
James Ellison was third fastest to give the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki team their first ever front row qualifying start. The team’s second rider Chris Walker, who had escaped unscathed in an earlier fireball crash in free practice, rewarded their efforts to re-build his bike by securing a third row start.
Stuart Easton on the second Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell start from the second row with former three times title winner Ryuichi Kiyonari on the Buildbase BMW and Richard Cooper aboard the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki on row three.
Results
Datatag Extreme Qualifying:
1. Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:34.557s
2. Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.327s
3. James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.381s
4. Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.879s
5. Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.939s
6. Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.992s
