Weather conditions were changeable all weekend at the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch in Kent.
The qualifying session took part in cooler conditions than Friday’s free practice but had to be stopped with only 5 minutes left to run after heavy rain pelted the riders making it impossible for the teams to continue.
Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne took the pole position on the Airwaves Ducati at his local track. He dominated all three of the free practice sessions as well as the frantic 50 minute qualifying on Saturday.
Cal Crutchlow set a blistering pace to take the second spot on the grid with his teammate Leon Haslam taking the final fourth spot on the front row for the two Honda riders leaving Karl Harris to fill that third place.
On the second row of the grid was Tom Sykes on the Rizla Suzuki, Leon Camier on the second Airwaves Ducati, Simon Andrews for the Jentin Racing/Lloyds British team and Michael Rutter on the North West 200 Ducati. There was only three-tenths of a second splitting the four riders who fought hard to claim there positions.
Rookie British Superbike rider, Atsushi Watanabe on the Rizla Suzuki had an impressive qualifying session and along with Michael Laverty on the Relentless Suzuki By TAS, completed the top ten riders.
Unfortunately, round one of the British Superbike Championship was cancelled yesterday after heavy snowfall throughout the morning prevented any track activity from taking place.
At 11.15am, the Race Director Stuart Higgs made the announcement that the race would not take place and would be rescheduled for 10/11th May.
Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of Motorsport Vision said “All race day, weekend and grandstand tickets for today event will be valid for the new date at no extra charge. The grids for all the races within the BSB programme will be as set yesterday, 5th April.”
Shane’s excellent performance in qualifying, will therefore still place him on pole position at his home circuit. He was clearly disappointed that racing had to be postponed.
Several centimetres of snow fell on the Kent circuit early on Sunday morning in as unseasonable weather hit Southern England and organisers initially tried to press on with the racing but eventually had to cancel the race as the track conditions deteriorated.
Here are the qualifying times which will be in place for the rescheduled race on 11th May:
1. Shane Byrne Airwaves Ducati 1.25.832
2. Cal Crutchlow HM Plant Honda 1.26.155
3. Karl Harris RM Yamaha 1.26.364
4. Leon Haslam HM Plant Honda 1.26.522
5. Tom Sykes Rizla Suzuki 1.26.641
6. Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati 1.26.833
7. Simon Andrews Jentin Racing/Lloyds British Yamaha 1.26.926
8. Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati 1.26.974
9. Atsushi Watanabe Rizla Suzuki 1.27.893
10. Michael Laverty Relentless Suzuki 1.27.937
11. Billy McConnell MSS Discovery Kawasaki 1.28.206
12. Stuart Easton MSS Discovery Kawasaki 1.28.244
13. Steve Plater AIM Racing Yamaha 1.28.858
14. Guy Martin Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 1.28.873
15. Adam Jenkinson SMT Honda 1.28.880
16. James Buckingham Quay Garage Honda 1.28.921
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