Cal Crutchlow admitted he was thrilled to secure his maiden pole position for the HM Plant Honda team after storming to top spot during qualifying at
Oulton Park.
The 22-year-old made the most of drying conditions at the Cheshire circuit to place his CBR1000RR Fireblade at the head of the times with a storming lap of 1min 36.605secs which put him more than half a second clear of Shane Byrne – who took second on the grid for the Airwaves Ducati squad.
“To get pole position is fantastic!” second-year rider Crutchlow admitted. “The bike worked well in all the sessions: we were fastest in the wet and then the dry; we now just have to continue that and convert it into wins tomorrow. During the qualifying session it was wet but drying so conditions were tricky. On my fast lap there were still wet patches in places – like Hizzy's Chicane – but we managed to put a good lap together, which put me clear of the pack.
“This is my second pole position, but my first for HM Plant Honda. I'm ready for a fight tomorrow as I doubt there will be a breakaway leader as the racing will be quite tight and tyre management over the full 18 laps will be critical.”
Team-mate Leon Haslam will also start from the front row of the grid, although it was a far from straightforward session for the former Ducati rider who suffered a high-side early in the qualifying session and was forced to switch to his spare bike as a result.
“I am pretty happy with that as I had a big crash early in the session and had to use the spare bike,” he said. “To put my second Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade on the front-row on race tyres is pretty good. The boys on my side of the garage did a superb job.
“We've had some wet time this morning and then it was dry at the end of the qualifying session so I'm confident for tomorrow whatever happens. I think there's no reason why we can't go out and win both races. The crash was just one of those things. It was wet at Druids Corner, I touched the throttle and I guess I was on a wet patch and it high-sided me off, I'm a bit sore but that's all.”
