Leon Haslam delivered an inch perfect lap to claim pole position in Datatag Qualifying for tomorrow’s opening MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race at Cadwell Park, lapping under his own existing lap record from 2007.
An intense qualifying session first saw Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon crash out unhurt in Q2 at Mansfield to end his run prematurely, which puts him 13th on the grid for race one. He wasn’t the only rider to slide out of the action as Dan Linfoot was narrowly holding ninth before a crash at the Mountain. The Honda Racing rider was luckily able to still make the cut for Q3 and the team rapidly made the changes to get him back out in the final session to qualify ninth.
Buildbase BMW’s Lee Jackson was the first to complete a flying lap, putting the Buildbase BMW at the top of the times, but just a few minutes later his team-mate Richard Cooper forged ahead.
Shane 'Shakey' Byrne was on a charge, but the Be Wiser Ducati rider couldn’t quite better Cooper’s time initially and moved into second place. It wasn’t long before Haslam moved ahead, pushing Byrne back to third with Cooper still holding the top spot.
There was just 0.003s between Cooper and Haslam, but the ‘Pocket Rocket’ was on his final run and in the last minute he set the fastest ever lap of the Lincolnshire circuit to go to the top of the times. Byrne’s final lap put him second, just ahead of Cooper who completes the front row.
Jackson was pushed back onto row two in the final seconds ahead of Jason O'Halloran on the leading Honda Racing Fireblade and Luke Mossey on the Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki.
Tommy Bridewell’s last lap push saw him move up to seventh ahead of James Ellison and Linfoot, with the top nine covered by just 0.754s ahead of tomorrow’s opening race!
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, Datatag Qualifying:
Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 1m:25.923sShane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.236sRichard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +0.239sLee Jackson (Buildbase BMW) +0.286sJason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.450sLuke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.459sTommy Bridewell (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.494sJames Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.710sDan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.754sThe next round of the MCE British Superbike Championship takes place at Cadwell Park this August Bank Holiday weekend (August 27/28/29), for more information and to book please visit www.cadwellpark.co.uk
