Josh Brookes claimed his third pole position of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season at Donington Parkh today.
Lowes and Brookes continuously switched positions at the top of the times in Q1 as the pair continued to up the pace throughout the session with the Tyco Suzuki rider leading into the final ten minutes of Q1. The Australian held the top spot until the end of the first session from defending champion Tommy Hill, Lowes and Michael Laverty with Luca Scassa completing the top five. The session had been briefly red flagged when Barry Burrell and then James Westmoreland both crashed in separate incidents at Goddards, both riders were unhurt, but with damage to the recticel the session was halted. The Buildbase BMW and WFR Honda teams then frantically worked on the damaged bikes to get their riders back out on track for Q2.
There was drama for some of the Title Fighter contenders in Q2 when Noriyuki Haga missed the cut in twelfth with Ian Lowry also missing out in Q3 by qualifying fourteenth fastest; giving themselves a challenge tomorrow to come through the order. Lowes had topped Q2 from Brookes as the pair continued their battle for the pole position.
In Q3 Samsung Honda's Michael Laverty had a disastrous session when he crashed out on his first flying lap at Redgate unhurt; he will start tenth on the grid for tomorrow's opening race. Hill and the second Samsung Honda of Jon Kirkham complete the front row. Westmoreland and WFR Honda had a miraculous recovery to finish fifth fastest ahead of Tommy Bridewell and Michael Rutter as Scassa completes the second row. Patric Muff and Laverty complete the top ten.
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, qualifying: 1.Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 1m:30.085s2.Alex Lowes (WFR Honda) +0.116s3.Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.274s4.Jon Kirkham (Samsung Honda) +0.472s5.James Westmoreland (WFR Honda) +0.503s6.Tommy Bridewell (Supersonic BMW) +0.705s7.Michael Rutter (MSS Bathams Kawasaki) +0.812s8.Luca Scassa (Padgetts Honda) +1.066s9.Patric Muff (Supersonic BMW) +1.956s10.Michael Laverty (Supersonic BMW)
