Shane Byrne will start Bank Holiday Monday’s MCE British Superbike Championship races from second place on the grid.
He was pipped to pole position by Alex Lowes who has been threatening to put his bike on pole in the last few races, and he has done it at Oulton Park this afternoon.
Josh Brookes joins them on the front row with Byrne’s teammate Keith Farmer in fourth place, Jon Kirkham is alongside him with veteran Chris Walker rounding out the top six.
The top ten is rounded out with Tommy Bridewell, Peter Hickman, Karl Harris and James Ellison on his Milwaukee Yamaha.
Lowes actually couldn’t be shifted from the top of the timesheets throughout the qualifying sessions, as he was quickest in Q1 and then followed that up in Q2 and then saved his best until last until the shoot out for pole, showing that he really is a quick rider.
Byrne will have to be at his brilliant best on Bank Holiday Monday if he wants to come away from Oulton Park with his Championship lead intact. It promises for an entertaining days racing in what hopefully will be glorious sunshine.
Giving his reaction to qualifying in second place for the first races tomorrow, Shakey said: “It had been a really good session and nobody in this championship likes to stand still; we were 3/4 of a second faster than we were last year so I was happy with that.
“I think it was probably one of the fastest laps I have ever done around this track and then I saw P2 on my board and I thought ‘go away’ as I couldn’t believe it! I have my fingers crossed that he can’t do those laps throughout the race tomorrow, but we knew Alex would be fast and we will be doing everything to win as we are not here to finish second.”
Qualifying result of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park:
- Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) 1m:34.884s
- Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.460s
- Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.900s
- Keith Farmer (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +1.130s
- Jon Kirkham (Buildbase BMW) +1.142s
- Chris Walker (Quattro Plant Bournemouth Kawasaki) +1.214s
- Tommy Bridewell (Bathams Honda) +1.326s
- Peter Hickman (Lloyds British GBmoto Honda) +1.786s
- Karl Harris (PR Racing Kawasaki) +2.346s
- James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha)