Leon Haslam will start round 8 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship from the front row of the grid having qualified in 3rd place at Oulton Park today. Gregorio Lavilla heads up the second row in 5th place.
Unlike yesterday the sun shone and the track was dry for the final practice and qualifying sessions. Leon pushed hard throughout qualifying, setting his fastest time of the day 1:35.529 on lap 20 of 23. This resulted in 3rd place on the grid and his 6th front row start of the season.
Leon was pleased with his result saying, “I am really happy that we have got on the front row for the race. It all went ok today; we had a few things we needed to sort out but on the whole it went to plan and we got a good enough grid position. I had a few laps that could have been quicker but I got stuck in traffic and it slowed me up. I felt good on my fastest lap though and I think I will be able to push hard and put in some fast times tomorrow. It should be a good race, I think it will be pretty close at the front but a lot will depend on the weather, as we think it may rain. Either way I am feeling good and confident about performing well.”
Having held the lead for much of free practice this morning Greg was pushed into 2nd place by Jonathan Rea in the final minute of the session. He set his fastest lap of the day 1:35.66 on lap 21 of qualifying resulting in a 5th place finish.
Greg was confident for qualifying having been consistently quick in practice and completing more laps than anyone else throughout the day. However he was disappointed with his second row start saying, “I tried a different race tyre this afternoon but it was not working as well as I would have liked so we had to change it; that meant I only had one soft race tyre left for qualifying on. I did what I could but it was not enough. The bike did not feel as good as it has and I need to get better as I am not satisfied with that. I was on pole position here last year, so even though I am at the front of the second row all 4 riders in front of me are fast so I will need to start well!”
Qualifying Result
- Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda 1:34.914
- Tom Sykes – Stobart Vent Axia 1:35.272
- Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati 1:35.529
- Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda 1:35.603
- Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati 1:35.660
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