2022 British Superbike Snetterton- Qualifying Results
Christian Iddon stayed upright and focused to take pole position in a crash filled qualifying for round eight of the championship at a wet Snetterton.
With the few laps completed before the red flag scrapped and the session re-set it was Christian Iddon who had the confidence to push hardest in the treacherous conditions st Snetterton and claim only his second ever BSB pole.
The slippery track saw a slew of riders end their session in the gravel but the Buildbase Suzuki rider got to grips with the track early and remained top as the clock hit zero to claim the top slot on the grid with a best lap of 2m 06.645s.
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Kyle Ryde is the man to beat for many riders this weekend - he holds the final Showdown slot -and was straight out after the delay, chased around the track by Iddon and Tommy Bridewell.
Building all the time, the Rich Energy OMG Yamaha rider secured second as he improved to within 0.164s of Iddon’s time on his final run after enjoying purple sectors in the first two portions of the track.
Third went to Tommy Bridewell after a tentative but solid session, only shuffled back a place after Ryde’s last run for Oxford Products Ducati.
Glenn Irwin made some late improvments to secure fourth as the top Honda on the grid, ahead of championship leader Bradley Ray, who was fifth after a late fall from his Rich Energy OMG Yamaha as the rain became heavier.
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Defending Champion Tarran Mackenzie got off to a strong start, initially holding a front row position but found himself sixth on the McAMS Yamaha after the riders who made the most of the limited window for finding improvements bettered their times.
Takumi Takahashi topped the wet warm-up session in the morning illustrating he had skills to continue his upward trajectory in the wet - like Iddon he had come through Q1 (with the second best time behind the #21) so used his time on track which had allowed him to familiarise himself with the conditions to move on to seventh on the grid for Honda Racing.
MCE Ducati’s Tom Sykes and Rory Skinner (Cheshire Holdings FS-3 Kawasaki) had pushed the limits early on as they chased Iddon’s lap time. Sykes’ charge saw him lead briefly with Skinner moving up to third before they both fell in quick succession at the start of their next lap. With no chance to improve further those times slipped to eighth and tenth best respectively, with Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) between the duo in ninth.
There were also falls for Lee Jackson (Cheshire Moulding FS-3 Kawasaki), who has a chance to be the next rider to grab a showdown place, sitting fourth overall, who starts 13th, Andrew Irwin (Synetiq BMW Motorrad) who is slightly further ahead on the grid in eleventh, and Chrissy Rouse (Crowe Performance BMW, 14th).
Danny Buchan, who got himself well and truly back into contention with a double win at Cadwell Park, could only manage 15th on the grid for Synetiq BMW Motorrad.
Red flag delay after Kent crash
Danny Kent initially brought out the red flag in Q2 with the clock on eight minutes remaining, his tyre wet with oil smoking out the Norfolk course as he fell from the Buildbase Suzuki. The bike may have been a little worse for wear cosmetically and with a blown engine, but the former Moto3 champion walked back to his garage unharmed. A delay for a clean up operation to remove the oil from the track occurred before qualifying got back underway. Kent was unable to restart, so placed 18th .
No Q2 for O’Halloran and Haslam
O’Halloran needed to progress through Q1 after a technical issue kept him off track in practice. Electrical issues continued into the morning for the Australian, but qualifying instead saw the conditions get the better of him.
The first rider to go out on wet tyres after rain arrived right at the start of the session, The McAMS rider was pushed out towards the end of the session only to force his way back into the progression places with his final lap.
It was not enough - with conditions improving and all riders now on the best tyre for the job, the Yamaha man was forced down to seventh after being bettered by both Dean Harrison and Danny Kent.
It was a similar story for Leon Haslam. Riding high and topping the timesheets with the weather at it’s worst, the VisionTrack Kawasaki rider, who still has a mathematical chance of making the Showdown, found his time shuffled back to ninth in the session - so will line up 21st on the grid.
What else happened in Q1?
The sketchy conditions saw the bikes rotating very slowly in the hunt for the best lap, as staying upright was a priority.
Despite this there were crashes for both Tom Neave and Leon Jeacock, who finished Q1 without a time to their names.
Local rider Ryan Vickers had a session to forget, the timing of his last exit from the pits seeing him become one of the first people to take the chequered flag, leaving him no opportunity to improve nad down in 25th on the grid in the first race.
Snetterton Statistics:
BSB Snetterton Lap Record - 2017 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1m 47.143s
2021 at Snetterton
Qualifying:
1: Glenn Irwin
2: Jason O’Halloran
3: Tarran Mackenzie
Race One (sprint): Tarran Mackenzie
Race Two: Jason O’Halloran
Race Three: Tarran Mackenzie
Round Six Results (Thruxton)
Qualifying (superpole format):
1: Bradley Ray
2: Rory Skinner
3: Lee Jackson
Race One (sprint): Bradley Ray
Race Two: Danny Buchan
Race Three: Danny Buchan
