Tommy Hill stunned the paddock into silence by launching his Pirelli-shod Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha YZF-R1 to his debut pole position and the fastest ever two-wheeled lap at Thruxton, today, 14 April. The reversal of fortune proved a stark contrast to the opening round less than seven days ago. The 22-year old from Lingfield struggled to make in-roads into the top ten in race one, before a mechanical failure forced him out of the second.
Tommy firmly put the disappointment behind him as he headed towards the top of the timing sheets from the first Free Practice session on Friday morning. With track temperatures rising, it appeared that the Pirelli - Yamaha combination was starting to come to the fore. Within the first few laps of his Qualifying session, Tommy had elevated himself up to fourth with a blistering time of 1:15.497. Utilising his three Pirelli qualifying tyres to the max, Tommy posted his first sub 1:15-second lap to move into second. Then, with the clock ticking down, came the astonishing 1:14.433 lap that would secure Tommy his and Pirelli's first ever British Superbike pole position, ahead of tomorrow's two 22-lap races.
Team-mate James Haydon, will line up on the fifth row of the grid in 18th position. This does not reflect the 32-year olds continual effort over the past two days, as his time of 1:16.489 proved the quickest of his weekend so far.
Tommy Hill:"I am absolutely over the moon, it's just one extreme to another. I have gone from struggling to get into the top 10 at Brands to sticking it on pole not even a week later. I've been strong all weekend so hope to convert that to the racing tomorrow."
Rob McElnea, Team Principal: "I'm so pleased for the whole team, we had a nightmare last weekend and Tommy has just raised the game along with the spirits of us all. Bring on tomorrow! We are really confident of some good finishes across both Superbike and Supersport. The cup has just provided a different pole-position man in Leon Morris and the competition is as fierce as ever."
Supersport:Virgin Media Yamaha Supersport turned up to Thruxton with high expectations for both Tom Grant and Billy McConnell to be hot on the pace from the start. The two riders didn't disappoint, with Tom occupying a provisional pole position and Billy slotting into the final front row place at the end of the first free practice. Although lap times were consistently fast, this had been the first time that the team had been to Thruxton on new YZF-R6 machinery. With minimal data available, a change of gearing to cope with the UK's fastest circuit was deemed necessary.
Running in solid top ten positions, a red flag four minutes from time prevented the Virgin Media Yamaha Supersport rookies from making any improvements on lap times. Despite this unwelcome hindrance, Billy secured his second front row start of the season, with Tom just a few places behind on the second row in seventh.
With the prospect of another day of warm sunshine for race day, the scene is now set for Tom and Billy to put in strong performances and battle for podium finishes.
Billy McConnell:"I couldn't really get into it in the second qualifying session, the weather had picked up and I just found it difficult to improve on my fourth place from this morning. I'm on the front row and we know we have good race distance set-up so bring it on, I'm looking forward to it."
Tom Grant: "I struggled a bit towards the end of qualifying today. A few riders baulked me while I was on a fast lap but it's not a bad finish to the day on the second row. I'm a little bit disappointed but hope to put it on the podium tomorrow and show them the way round here."
Virgin Media Cup:Local rider, Leon Morris, dominated proceedings throughout free practice at Qualifying to claim his first pole position of the season ahead of tomorrow's 14-lap race. The 20-year old from Stockbridge posted a 1:23.118 on his sixth lap to move ahead of early pacesetter Robbie Brown.
Brands Hatch race winner, BJ Toal, catapulted his Yamaha YZF-R6 onto the front row, but by the chequered flag could not improve his time for a repeat performance from last weekend. David Haire from Lisburn in Northern Ireland claimed the final front row start. The former British Supersport rider hopes to build on his seventh placed finish at Brands Hatch.
Leon Morris:"I had a bad weekend at Brands but it just got better here. It's my local circuit but that's not to say that I've done any more laps than the next bloke as its rare they race here. Everything went right but the last half of that session was almost pointless as the circuit just chews up tyres and hardly anyone went faster. I'm absolutely over the moon and thanks for everyone that's put me here, living the dream."
Robbie Brown: "After only doing four rounds last year, to come here and qualify second is amazing. I came here thinking I need to be top 10, this morning I was 10th and to convert that into second is a dream."
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