Shane Byrne Claims BSB pole at Brands Hatch

Track action (photo by London Bikers)Shane “Shakey” Byrne saved his best until last in a dramatic Datatag Extreme Qualifying session at Brands Hatch.

The triple-champion waited until the closing minutes to claim pole position for the fifth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship on the Grand Prix circuit.

Byrne continues his bid for a record fourth title win, but only completed a handful of laps in the first two elements of the grid-deciding session. “The bike was not working for me in Q1 and Q2 and I thought it best the team worked on it rather than me staying out on track,” said Byrne. “Your confidence takes a battering when you are losing the front end, but thanks to the team and the changes made it possible.”

Byrne’s third pole came with a lap in 1m 26.131secs, just 0.058secs up on Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker. His team-mate James Ellison completes the front row of the grid after his spell at the top earlier in the session.

It was a dramatic session for Josh Brookes who crashed twice during the three sessions, with the Australian crashing out first at Westfield in the opening session, with very little damage to the Milwaukee Yamaha. However in his quest to make amends he again crashed out of contention at Sheene Curve where his bike took a battering.

Jakub Smrz heads the second row on the Millsport Ducati ahead of Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell while Ryuichi Kiyonari, fresh from his triumph in the previous round at Knockhill, was sixth aboard his Buildbase BMW. John Hopkins starts his Tyco Suzuki from the third row with Richard Cooper and Dan Linfoot completing the top ten.

Datatag Extreme qualifying:
1: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:26.131s
2: Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.058s
3: James Ellison (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +0.254s
4: Jakub Smrz (Millsport Ducati) +0.373s
5: Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.550s
6: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.597s

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