Cadwell BSB: Blistering lap from Lowes secures pole position

Alex Lowes was on lap record pace to continue his form and take pole position for tomorrow’s first British Superbike race at Cadwell Park’s bank holiday ‘Party in the Park’ extravaganza.

Lowes shared the lead through Q1 and Q2 with Shakey Byrne, but a blistering lap from Lowes means he will start from the number one spot for the first race tomorrow. His lap of 1’26.7 is the fastest ever for the new ‘evo’ spec BSB machines, only 0.05 off the circuit’s two-wheeled outright record.

Byrne was able to keep second place, but was 0.6 seconds slower than Lowes on his Rapid Soliciters Kawasaki for second place.

The Milwaukee Yamaha of James Ellison will be the third bike on the front row, as he places himself in an ideal spot to challenge for podium credits, with only four races remaining before the showdown.

Tyco Suzuki rookie PJ Jacobsen will head the fourth row, having learnt the track well despite a single track day’s experience prior to this weekend. His teammate Josh Brookes was less lucky, finishing the session in seventh after a crash with three minutes remaining meant that he was unable to improve his time.

Tommy Bridewell, maintaining his new pace on the Halsell Racing BMW, was fifth, ahead of former champion Ryuichi Kiyonari in sixth, at a circuit the Japanese rider has occasionally struggled at in the past.

In the battle for the final showdown spots, Buildbase BMW rider James Westmoreland was unable to capitalise on his teammate’s mistake after a crash from Jon Kirkham in Q1 left him unable to start Q2 and subsequently finish 18th on the grid. However, Westmoreland failed to seize the advantage, and will start tomorrow’s race from 11th.

1 22 Alex LOWES Honda – Samsung Honda 1:26.708
2 67 Shane BYRNE Kawasaki – Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki 1:27.360
3 77 James ELLISON Yamaha – Milwaukee Yamaha 1:27.711
4 99 PJ JACOBSEN Suzuki – Tyco Suzuki 1:27.734
5 46 Tommy BRIDEWELL Kawasaki – Halsall Racing Kawasaki 1:27.886
6 23 Ryuichi KIYONARI Honda – Samsung Honda 1:27.961
7 2 Josh BROOKES Suzuki – Tyco Suzuki 1:28.266
8 303 Keith FARMER Kawasaki – Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki 1:28.317
9 60 Peter HICKMAN Honda – Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Honda 1:28.551
10 9 Chris WALKER Kawasaki – Quattro Plant Kawasaki 1:28.750