WFR Honda's Alex Lowes claimed his fourth pole position of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season at Brands Hatch as the young gun held off the challenge from Shane 'Shakey' Byrne ahead of race one this afternoon. 

In the opening session Lowes bounced back from his free practice three crash to top the session from Samsung Honda rival Michael Laverty and Byrne. Q1 had briefly been red flagged when Luca Scassa crashed at Stirlings with his Padgetts Honda in the track; he was unhurt and was able to impressively make the cut for Q2 displacing his team-mate Jason O'Halloran.

In Q2 Lowes again led from Laverty as the Title Fighters pushed the times as the momentum built for the fight for the final pole position of the season. The leading five championship contenders comfortably made the cut for Q3, whilst Tommy Bridewell who continues to ride despite the pain of his injured left finger just missed out in 13th.

In Q3 Lowes stormed to the top with a run of fast laps to fend off Byrne who closed in on his title rival whilst James Westmoreland and Barry Burrell claimed their first front row start of the season. The remaining Title Fighters will start from row two with Laverty heading the second row from Josh Brookes and Tommy Hill.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, qualifying result: 1.Alex Lowes (WFR Honda) 1m:26.020s2.Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.209s3.James Westmoreland (WFR Honda) +0.265s4.Barry Burrell (Buildbase BMW) +0.356s5.Michael Laverty (Samsung Honda) +0.448s6.Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.532s7.Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.638s8.Karl Harris (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.642s9.Peter Hickman (Buildbase BMW) +0.714s10.Stuart Easton (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +1.131s

The opening race starts at 16:00 today (Saturday)