Karl Harris scorched to maiden pole glory in the ninth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship with the fastest ever two wheeled lap of the Oulton Park circuit – the former triple Supersport champion put in the decisive lap in the final seconds of a high speed session. “It was about time I did that,” smiled the HM Plant Honda with his characteristic honesty. “That last lap felt smooth and easy. After struggling last week at Knockhill, I felt at home here and got on with the job.”
He was on the pace throughout, duelling with Leon Haslam, aboard the Airwaves Ducati for the top spot on the leaderboard – the Derbyshire rider had put in an early fast lap, 1m 34.901s, but, the Honda rider responded with a lap of 1m 34.775secs.
Haslam, bidding for a fourth pole start of the season hit back, trimming 0.041secs off that time. But,on the final lap of the 2.692 mile circuit, Harris put in the decisive lap, recording a breathtaking average speed of 102.53mph, and a time of 1m 34.515secs, some six tenths of a second faster than the pole time when the series visited the Cheshire venue earlier in the season.
“Now, I want a first ever Superbike win, having come so close to it here back in May,” added the 26 year old from Sheffield who shrugged aside memories of a painful crash here which prematurely ended his 2002 Superbike campaign.
Haslam, riding the Airwaves Ducati, was a little disappointed at having to settle for second best, despite his 102.29mph lap: “It would have been good to have pole, but I know the bike is running great, and my settings for the race are fine. Now, I want my first wins of the season to try and get ahead in the title race.”
There was some consolation for the 22 year old Derbyshire rider has he opened up a 60-55 points lead over his team-mate Gregorio Lavilla in the Audi Performance Award, with its end of season prize of a £50,000 limited edition Audi S4 Cabriolet.
Of more concern to the Spaniard as he defends his title is that he is back on the second row of the grid, running eighth fastest, and some 1.2 seconds down on Haslam who trails him by just eleven points in the title stakes. Adding to that pressure, Ryuichi Kiyonari, third in the rankings, set third fastest time here, to start of a front row that is completed by Jonathan Rea on the Red Bull Honda.
Shane Byrne, a winner for Rizla Suzuki last Sunday at Knockhill, was fifth best, ahead of Tommy Hill, riding Virgin Mobile Yamaha, and Michael Rutter, who recovered from a tumble in the opening minutes of the session to qualifying his Stobart Motorsport Honda seventh.
Glen Richards, Hydrex Honda; Michael Laverty on the second Stobart Honda; Simon Andrews, riding Jentin Yamaha; and Scott Smart, despite an off at Brittens, start from the third row, while Steve Plater, making his debut with the Rizla Suzuki team, running sixteenth, completes the fourth row, alongside Billy McConnell, Ben Wilson and Gary Mason.
James Buckingham, the British Superbike Cup holder, overcame machine problems that sidelined him throughout the third free practice session, to set twentieth best time on his Quay Garage Honda, running a third of a second ahead of the current points leader Chris Martin riding the PR Branson Honda.
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