James Haydon starts tomorrow’s Bank Holiday Monday double header fourth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship from fourth on the front row of the grid with his Rizla Suzuki team mate Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne heading up the second row in fifth. Consistently in the top four throughout practice, James kept his cool during qualification and earned Rizla Suzuki its first front row start of the 2006 season.
Shakey posted the fastest lap times in the previous two practice sessions but missed out in qualification when he crashed out at high speed at Cascades with nine minutes to go. He was unable to rejoin and his best lap time placed him fifth on the grid.
Superbike racing starts at 14:00 tomorrow at the picturesque 2.69-mile long Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire. All the action will be shown on ITV1 from 15:30 and then on Sky Sports 2 at 21:00.
James:“A big thank you to my Rizla Suzuki technicians for improving my bike so much over the course of the weekend, they have worked wonders and I am happier now than ever before on the GSX-R1000.
“I recorded my fastest ever laps of Oulton Park on race and qualifying tyres today. I now have to go out and get results tomorrow.”
Shakey:“I am disappointed to end up fifth in qualification but today has been a trying day for me. I woke up this morning feeling terrible with the flu and have been visiting the medical centre to take a saline drip to keep hydrated. I then crashed in qualification and I’m sure I’ll be stiff later on.
“Overall my feeling on the bike is real positive and I like Oulton Park. There are no points awarded today but tomorrow is when it counts and hopefully I’ll be feeling better for the races.”
Niall Mackenzie, Race Operations Manager: “It has been Rizla Suzuki’s best qualification session of the year so far and it’s brilliant to be fighting for the front row positions, it’s exactly where the team deserves to be.
“James has put in a lot of hard graft on his bike and got his just rewards. He is comfortable on his GSX-R1000 and looking every bit a podium contender.
“Shakey on race rubber is lightning quick and on form should have been going for pole position but his challenge was cut short by a crash. Fifth is a strong second row start and if he can shift the flu bug then we can expect him to be fighting at the front tomorrow.”
Qualification: 1: Leon Haslam (Ducati) 1:35.120,
2: Karl Harris (Honda) +0.349,
3: Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +0.370,
4: James Haydon (Rizla Suzuki) +0.521,
5: Shane Byrne (Rizla Suzuki) +0.903,
6: Michael Rutter (Honda) +1.046,
7: Jonathan Rea (Honda) +1.059,
8: Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) +1.559,
9: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +1.568,
10: Glen Richards (Honda) +1.588.
Related Linkswww.rizla-suzuki.co.uk
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