Stapleford secures Donington front row

Luke Stapleford will start his home round of the 2016 Supersport World Championship at Donington Park from the front row of the grid.

The reigning British Supersport Champion qualified third behind rivals Kenan Sofuoglu and PJ Jacobsen in the morning’s 15 minute superpole session to take his second front row start of the year.

After a tough start to the year saw him switch teams after just three rounds, Stapleford will be hoping the front row will help kick-start his season on the trusty Profile Triumph. Sixth here as a wildcard last year, he’ll be looking to build on that at his first home round as a full-time WSS rider.

“We have got strong race pace and we can do a one-off lap in qualifying like we did then,” he told MCN. “The race pace is good because we tried it this morning, and yesterday afternoon. I do not know what Kenan has got up his sleeve, but we will try to go with him. We have had to make a few changes to the spec of the bike for 2016 and it has hindered us in placed and helped us in a few other place. Maybe here we notice it more than last year because of the stop-start corners. We are a bit slower off the real slow turns, but it is still good and it is good to see that the old Triumph is going well. We will dig deep tomorrow!”