HM Plant Honda riders Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam line up on the front row for tomorrow’s two Bennetts British Superbike races.
Both riders will be aiming to make the best possible starts to their championship campaigns, despite bad weather being forecast tomorrow for the Kent track. Both 20-lap races will be broadcast live on Eurosport.
Meanwhile Honda (UK) Racing’s Steve Brogan is on pole position for tomorrow’s 16-lap Metzeler National Superstock race with his all-new CBR1000RR Fireblade. Brogan is having a busy year racing Superstock alongside his ride on the HM Plant-liveried CBR600RR in the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship. The 27-year old put the Supersport bike in sixth position on the grid for Sunday’s 18-lap race.
Leon Haslam – HM Plant Honda BSB – Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade
4th position – 1m 26.552s
“We’re on the front row and I did what I needed to do really, so I’m happy enough with that. We’ve been methodically going through a few things on the bike to improve our race pace, which is very good. I didn’t get the benefit of the new tyres at the end of the session, which is a shame, but we’ve gone quicker than we have all weekend and the results will be more about race set up than getting pole. Obviously it seems the weather is looking to be wet, so we’ve got a good wet-weather set-up from our test at Knockhill. We may make a few minor changes if the warm-up tomorrow is dry, if not we’re confident that the CBR1000RR Fireblade package is strong in the wet.”
Cal Crutchlow – HM Plant Honda
BSB – Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade
2nd position – 1m 26.155s
“It was great to finally get the season underway. I really enjoyed today. I think for me to be chasing Shane Byrne around here is quite good – he’s won World Superbike races here after all! We struggled a little with side grip today, but then we changed a rear shock linkage and immediately went from high 27s to high 26s. Looking at the times we’re not that far off at all, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. There are a lot of rumours about what the weather is going to do, but to be honest I’m not worrying about that. We went well in wet weather testing, so if it’s raining: fine, if it’s dry we will still be up there. I’ve said before that a perfect start would be two podiums and hopefully that will come to fruition tomorrow.”
Steve Brogan – Honda (UK) Racing
British Supersport – Honda CBR600RR -
6th position – 1m 29.885s
British Superstock – Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade -
Pole position – 1m 29.391s
“The Superstock bike is spot on, I couldn’t ask any more of it really. When you consider the conditions and the temperatures we were running in, they were far from ideal, but we were on lap record pace. A 1m 29.3s lap is the record around here in the class and I was around that – so that’s very impressive. The CBR1000RR is just doing a mega job, it feels great and the general set-up is right on the button. In the Supersport class to be fair I wanted front row, but to be sixth is better than being fourth at Brands as effectively then you’re in a ditch in the side of the track! So from sixth, if I can get off the line well I should be able to run with the boys and challenge for a win.”
Havier Beltran – HM Plant Honda Team Manager“It’s been difficult conditions for everyone here today, but luckily we were fortunate with the weather in the Superbike qualifying as it just rained right at the end of the session with both HM Plant Honda boys on the front row. We came here knowing that this would be a very strong circuit for Shakey Byrne – it’s his local circuit after all – but we’re up at the front and in a position to take as many points away from here as possible. We’re not really sure what the weather will be doing tomorrow; some reports say rain, others snow, so we shall just wait and see what happens. We are all very happy and excited for Steve in the Superstock class with his pole position. He’s done a brilliant job all weekend and since first throwing a leg over the new Fireblade he’s simply said; ‘don’t touch it,’ as he’s been so happy with the bike and he’s got a smile a mile-wide. I think that’s also giving him more confidence on the HM Plant CBR600RR, so we’re expecting a good showing from h im in both his races.”
