Irwin claims back-to-back poles with Thruxton scorcher
Full BSB qualifying results from Thruxton
Glenn Irwin has claimed his second consecutive pole position in the Bennetts British Superbike championship with lap record pace at Thruxton on the Be Wiser Ducati.
Full BSB qualifying results from Thruxton
Glenn Irwin has claimed his second consecutive pole position in the Bennetts British Superbike championship with lap record pace at Thruxton on the Be Wiser Ducati.
Fresh from his maiden official BSB pole position from Brands Hatch, Irwin has repeated the trick by producing a 1m 14.565s to bolt the front on his opening lap in Q3 – while his brother Andrew Irwin had gone even faster in Q2 with a 1m 14.346s for a new outright lap record.
Despite ducking into the 1m 14s bracket again in the pole position shootout the Irwins were split up on the front row by JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey, with the younger Irwin brother in third place. For Mossey it marks a comeback following 12 months on from his nasty back injury sustained at the Hampshire circuit.
Despite missing out to Mossey to secure a Be Wiser Ducati 1-2 in qualifying, the younger Irwin's effort still marks his best qualifying performance having stepped in for the injured Shane Byrne from June's Snetterton round.
Double winner from Brands Hatch Josh Brookes produced a late fight back in Q3 for McAMS Yamaha to jump up to fourth place with his penultimate lap to nip ahead of Buildbase Suzuki’s Bradley Ray.
Jake Dixon was another late improver to complete the second row in sixth place on the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki.
Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon heads up row three ahead of BSB championship leader Leon Haslam in eighth place with Danny Buchan completing the Q3 contenders for FS-3 Racing Kawasaki.
In Q2 Honda’s Jason O’Halloran was the unlucky 10th-place rider to miss out on the pole position shootout after both Haslam and Dixon opted for a second new tyre run in the middle session to improve their times.
Friday’s fastest rider Peter Hickman also missed out in the second session and will start race one from 11th place.
Early qualifying casualties who dropped out of Q1 were Tarran Mackenzie, off the back of fourth place in race two at Brands Hatch, who suffered a technical issue with his McAMS Yamaha which meant he was unable to set a time.
Former BSB race winner Michael Laverty was another noticeable Q1 dropout for Tyco BMW qualifying down in 19th place.
