Byrne sets fastest ever lap at Oulton Park for pole
Click here for full BSB qualifying result from Oulton Park
Shane Byrne has set the quickest ever Superbike lap around Oulton Park to storm to pole position ahead of Tommy Bridewell with Leon Haslam completing the front row.
After the Superpole format had to be ditched with the increasing threat of rain, the familiar Q3 session took place with the top nine riders blasting out early to avoid any wet weather.
In sunny conditions, somewhat ironically, Byrne on the Be Wiser Ducati was the last to set a timed lap but produced a blistering time of 1m 33.933s to jump ahead of the chasing pack.
Bridewell on the Bennetts Suzuki grabbed second on the grid, 0.137s off of Byrne, as Haslam needed his second flying lap to move up to third ahead of Honda's Jason O'Halloran.
Joint-closest Showdown contender outside the top six Luke Mossey will start from the middle of the second row just ahead of James Ellison on the second JG Speedfit Kawasaki.
Peter Hickman was shuffled down to seventh, despite also going under the official lap record, ahead of Buildbase BMW's Richard Cooper and ePayMe Yamaha's John Hopkins.
With the increased threat of rain building during qualifying Superpole was reverted to the Q3 format as per the regulations, meaning the top nine riders could head out on track together to battle for pole position.
Showdown contender Dan Linfoot narrowly missed out on the reverted Q3 session after being bumped down the order by Hopkins and Hickman late in the intermediate session.
Fellow top six sitter Michael Laverty also missed out and will start 11th with Glenn Irwin splitting the Tyco BMWs in 12th and Christian Iddon in 13th.
