Supersport rookie, Tom Grant exceeded all expectations during qualifying today, 8 April, at Brands Hatch for the opening round of the season. The 18-year old from Shiptonthorpe in Yorkshire, put his Pirelli-shod Virgin Media Yamaha YZF-R6 on provisional pole at the end of Qualifying One. His time of 1:29.136 held true until, with just four minutes left of the second qualifying, Dennis Hobbs on the Padgetts Batley Ltd Honda stole through to demote Grant to second by just 0.16 seconds.
Team-mate, Billy McConnell joins Tom Grant on the front row for tomorrow's 18-lap race. The Virgin Media Yamaha Supersport pairing have dominated proceedings so far this weekend and will look to end the Easter weekend on a high with a brace of podium finishes.
Tom Grant: "I ended up second on the grid, it's fantastic. The team have put a brilliant bike together for me and it's been working well all weekend. It's been hard getting used to the bike in the pre-season but it's paid off. Obviously I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and can't deny that a trip up on the podium wouldn't be nice!"
Billy McConnell: "Qualifying third on the grid is not to be sniffed at. The bike has been great and I'm really pleased with the progress we've made with the Supersport bike. Lets see what happens tomorrow when we are out there for racing for real."
Rob McElnea, Team Principal: "The icing on the cake at the moment is the Supersport team. I'm amazed that both the guys are so consistently strong all weekend. We are over the moon with it, the way that it's going at the moment we can hope for a strong result tomorrow."
Bennetts British Superbike Championship:Local rider, Tommy Hill struggled to show his true form in qualifying after a crash in morning practice left his number one machine with a problem that hindered him through qualifying. Virgin Media Optoma Loans team-mate, James Haydon takes to the season on Pirelli tyres for the first time. His fourth-row qualifying position reflects his continual work to find the ideal race set-up rather than concentrating on a fast lap.
Tommy Hill: "I've been struggling with side grip today and had to adjust my riding style accordingly. I had a technical problem that led to me getting a 40-second penalty, but by then my session was all but over anyway."
Rob McElnea, Team Principal:"There was some pressure on the team today after a practice crash from Tommy this morning, we had work to do on the bike and it gave us a few problems in the qualifying session due to the crash. Tommy has a big day ahead of him tomorrow to turn it round. James is still working to get used to the bike and tyres so we expected that."
Virgin Media Cup:Virgin Media Cup veteran, BJ Toal, stole the inaugural pole position from Leo Aldersley in the closing moments of Qualifying. Along with the prestige of starting the first race of the season from pole position, BJ Toal will line up on the grid tomorrow afternoon onboard the Championship leader's Pirelli Diablo machine. Making up the front row is 2006 Knockhill race winner David Paton and South African newcomer Dane Hellyer. Hellyer, taking the final position on the front row, is made even more impressive as this is his first time at Brands Hatch and first race in the UK. With 25 riders lining up for the 12-lap race around the 2.3-mile GP circuit, the challenge is on to find the new champion.
Niall Mackenzie, Cup Mentor:"Fantastic for Tom Grant to be right at the front of the grid and an inspiration to all the Media Cup guys to see the Champion from last year right up there on the Supersport grid at Round One. Now they can see what they have to race for this season."
The action starts tomorrow, Bank Holiday Monday at 12.30 with British Supersport followed by race one of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at 13.30. The Virgin Media Cup starts at 14.20 with race two of the Superbikes at 16.55 which is transmitted live on ITV4.
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