Byrne scorches to pole as Ray hits trouble
Full BSB qualifying results from Oulton Park here
Shane Byrne has produced blitzing single lap pace to take pole position at Oulton Park while Bennetts British Superbike championship leader Bradley Ray was black flagged from Q3.
Full BSB qualifying results from Oulton Park here
Shane Byrne has produced blitzing single lap pace to take pole position at Oulton Park while Bennetts British Superbike championship leader Bradley Ray was black flagged from Q3.
The defending BSB champion notched in a 1m 33.979s in ideal hot and sunny conditions to take pole position at the Cheshire track on the Be Wiser Ducati.
BSB championship leader Ray suffered a nightmare top nine shootout in the final session after crashing out of his first flying lap at the Lodge corner. Despite picking up his Buildbase Suzuki and returning to track action without issue, Ray failed to return to the pits to have his GSX-R1000 checked over and due to BSB rules he was duly shown the black flag which forced him out of Q3.
As a result, Ray was unable to set a time and will start from the back of row three from ninth on the grid for race one.
Jake Dixon found impressive gains for RAF Reserves & Regular Kawasaki by jumping up to second place to break up the Be Wiser Ducati domination with Glenn Irwin shuffled to third place having topped the times in FP3.
Leon Haslam continues to remain in touch with the front-runners for JG Speedfit Kawasaki having secured his first race win of the year last time out at Brands Hatch Indy as he heads up the second row after qualifying fourth.
Haslam will be joined on row two by Honda’s Jason O’Halloran and JG Speedfit Kawasaki teammate Luke Mossey, with Movuno.com Halsall Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell taking the front of the third row.
Peter Hickman survived a late fall in Q2 to return to track action for Smiths Racing BMW in the final session to move ahead of Ray for eighth place.
James Ellison was the unlucky 10th place rider to just miss out on Q3 for Anvil Hire Yamaha but will head up row four in front of FS-3 Racing Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan and McAMS Yamaha’s Josh Brookes.
Three-time BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari marked his brief comeback to the series, standing in for the injured Dan Linfoot at Honda, by qualifying in 18th after crashing during his opening timed lap in Q2 down at Hizzy’s chicane.
