Ray takes Silverstone pole from Dixon
Full BSB qualifying results from Silverstone
Bradley Ray has set up an ideal start to his Bennetts British Superbike championship Showdown decider weekend by taking pole position for race one at Silverstone in mixed conditions.
Full BSB qualifying results from Silverstone
Bradley Ray has set up an ideal start to his Bennetts British Superbike championship Showdown decider weekend by taking pole position for race one at Silverstone in mixed conditions.
After topping Friday practice on the National circuit Ray followed it by being the only rider to be able to reach the 53-second bracket with a pole position time of 53.864s almost a quarter of a second ahead of nearest challenger Jake Dixon on the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki.
Qualifying started with a faint dry line before the switch to slick tyres kicked in midway through Q1 following early morning rain which provided difficult conditions for all riders.
Dixon saw his Q3 session cut short by a technical issue with his Kawasaki, having saved a hairy moment at the first turn earlier in Q3, but his time kept him clear of a late improvement by Glenn Irwin who rounds out the front row for Be Wiser Ducati.
McAMS Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie impressed with fourth place, his equal-best qualifying result of his rookie BSB campaign, ahead of team-mate Josh Brookes in fifth who was another to lose his final few minutes in Q3 due to a suspected engine issue.
Following his heavy FP1 off, BSB championship leader Leon Haslam bounced back to take sixth place just in front of JG Speedfit Kawasaki team-mate Luke Mossey. Buildbase Suzuki’s Richard Cooper and Honda’s Jason O’Halloran rounded out the Q3 challengers.
In Q2 it was double disaster for Tyco BMW with Michael Laverty suffering an early exit with a broken chain before his team-mate Christian Iddon crashed out at Luffield falling heavily on his right arm. Iddon will start 14th place with Laverty down in 18th.
Current top six Showdown spot holder Peter Hickman also dropped out in Q2 in 15th place on the Smiths Racing BMW.
Fellow BSB Showdown challenger Danny Buchan also missed out for FS-3 Racing Kawasaki timing his final Q1 badly which saw him lose out on the drying track in the switch to slick tyres and will start a lowly 23rd in race one.
