Gregorio Lavilla smashed his own Donington Park lap record to start the double race second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship from pole position. The Airwaves Ducati rider was again in dominant form at the Leicestershire circuit where a winning double in the penultimate round last year eased him to the crown and as he continues that defence, Lavilla is intent on extending his current three points advantage over Ryuichi Kiyonari in the title stakes.
The Japanese rider, aboard the HM Plant Honda, had to settle for fifth best on the qualifying leaderboard, and a second row start, having run some eight tenths of a second down on Lavilla.
The Spaniard was always on the pace in a session that began on a drying track, but then, despite the ever present threat of storm clouds, dried to provide a thriller.
Lavilla made the telling move with 18 minutes of the session remaining, putting in a lap of 1m 31.712s lap of the 2.5 mile circuit, but as first his young team-mate Leon Haslam and then HM Plant Honda’s Karl Harris threatened, he returned in sensational form.
His response was a near inch-perfect performance with a lap of 1m 31.542s, an average speed of 98.31mph – that was 0.176secs inside his own race record and only a split second down on the fastest ever Superbike lap of the circuit set by the late, legendary former champion Steve Hislop.
“It was a bit slippery early on, and I was a bit disappointed not to have beaten my time from last year, but then I go out again and make the big on, so we must be very happy,” smiled Lavilla after his second pole setting performance of the season.
Thos two performances have put in firmly in the driving seat to win the Audi Performance Award – a £50,000 limited edition Cabriolet – which rewards consistent speed in qualifying throughout the season.
Harris closed within half a second of Lavilla, with Haslam, shrugging aside the discomfort of the dislocated right ankle and cracked fibula sustained in a high speed crash during the Brands Hatch opener, running third.
Michael Rutter, aboard the Stobart Motorsport Honda, completed the front row of the grid with a lap of 1m 32.351secs. Kiyonari was just 0.002secs down on his former team-mate, to start on the second row alongside Jonathan Rea, Michael Laverty and James Haydon, while former champion Shane Byrne was ninth fastest.
James Buckingham, the defending British Superbike Cup champion, headed the qualifiers in that class aboard his Quay Garage Honda, running half a second up n Chris Martin and Marty Nutt.
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