Despite being caught up in the race-stopping accident during the 'opening' round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at
Thruxton, Karl Harris bounced back to secure a slot on the second row of the grid for the May Bank Holiday event at
Oulton Park.
In a session held on a drying circuit in Cheshire, the Rob Mac Racing man elected to start the session with slicks on his bike but then discovered a set-up issue with his Yamaha YZF-R1 that forced him sit out a chunk of qualifying.
Despite only completing 14 laps, and still carrying the injuries sustained at Thruxton, Harris posted a time of 1min 37.908secs which was good enough to put him in the middle of row two in sixth place.
“I'm a bit frustrated because we had a few minor problems in qualifying that lost us some time,” he reflected afterwards. “I've been feeling better as the weekend has gone on and it's changed the way I'm now riding, which has effected the handling of my bike. It's nothing that we can't change for tomorrow, I'll be dependent on a good start but I'm feeling really confident for the race."
Despite Harris' frustration, team principal Rob McElnea was thrilled with the result considering what happened in Hampshire last time out and he admitted that it was a performance that bodes well for the remainder of the season.
"We are over the moon with that,” he said. “If you'd told me at Thruxton that we'd be lining up in P6 after that accident I wouldn't have believed it! The pressure was on a bit in that session as we had a few issues, it's our first decent run out in dry conditions this season and it has highlighted a few minor changes for our dry setting.
"Karl is getting fitter as the weekend progresses and he is fully committed to putting in another gritty performance for us. To be honest if we can get our season started with a few solid top six results with an injured rider, it should set us up for the remainder of the season."
