Ellison demolishes lap record for Brands Hatch Indy pole

James Ellison has raised the bar at Brands Hatch Indy with a new lap record of 44.728s as he blitzed the competition on the McAMS Yamaha.

Click here for full BSB qualifying results from Brands Hatch Indy

James Ellison has raised the bar at Brands Hatch Indy with a new lap record of 44.728s as he blitzed the competition on the McAMS Yamaha as JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo Luke Mossey and Leon Haslam complete the front row.

After topping the Saturday free practice sessions, Ellison was pushed hard by Mossey throughout FP3 and qualifying but with his first flyer in the pole position shootout he instantly produced a 44.728s to trump Mossey's provisional pole time of 44.931s.

With qualifying tyre wear and riders looking to push even harder, Ellison's lap proved unbeatable as the new lap record on two wheels around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

Heading into the Brands Hatch Indy race weekend the previous outright lap record from 2011 was 45.112s set by Shane Byrne but it was smashed on three separate occassions with Ellison's pole lap ultimate claiming the outright honour by almost three-tenths.

As Mossey settled for second it left Donington Park double winner Leon Haslam to complete the front row with his 44.933s withstanding a late charge from Be Wiser Ducati's Shane Byrne.

Byrne looked set to disrupt the front three with a fastest of anyone in the second sector but was unable to put the lap together and improve on his 45.030s.

The five-time BSB champion will be joined on the second row by Moto Rapido Ducati's John Hopkins and Honda Racing's Jason O'Halloran who demonstrated impressive pace gains from the 2017 season opener.

Tyco BMW's Christian Iddon claimed seventh in qualifying ahead of Anvil Hire Yamaha's Josh Brookes as McAMS Yamaha's Michael Laverty completed the top nine who contested the Q3 pole shootout.

Dan Linfoot became the unlucky rider to narrowly miss out on Q3 in 10th despite being less than three-tenths of a second off of the top time in Q2 set by Ellison. Jakub Smrz impressed on the Lloyd & Jones/PR Racing BMW with 11th ahead of Bennetts Suzuki's Taylor Mackenzie and Be Wiser Ducati's Glenn Irwin.

RAF Reserves Kawasaki's Jake Dixon will line up for race one from 14th on the grid with Team WD-40 Kawasaki's Tommy Bridewell nipping ahead of 2014 World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli who starts down in 16th.

Tyco BMW's Davide Giugliano was forced to miss qualifying and the rest of the Brands Hatch Indy race weekend due to injury sustained in FP1.

Read More