Samsung Crescent Racing's Jon Kirkham will start today'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 from 11th place