Quay Garage Honda rider Tommy Bridewell continued his great form at the opening round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch when he qualified in a superb sixth position following today's Swan Roll for Pole qualifying session.

After yesterday's sensational fastest time in the opening free practice session which he backed up with second fastest in the day's second session, the 21 year old from Etchilhampton near Devizes had to contend with changeable weather conditions aboard the Honda CBR1000 Fireblade which persisted into the qualifying session.

In Q1 he showed good pace again to end up fifth fastest and progressed into Q2 where he set fifth fastest time again to end up in the top ten shoot out for pole position. However he suffered a minor problem with the front forks and then the electrics but still held on to set sixth fastest time to start tomorrow's first race from the second row.

Tommy Bridewell:

"I was fairly happy with qualifying and in Q1 I was happy with the lap times on race tyres. In Q2 we chose a wrong tyre for the weather conditions but I was still happy enough but then in Q3 I had all my problems. We encountered an electrical problem which affected our traction control and anti wheelie systems which was a bit of a shame and also we had a problem with a fork seal. I'd have liked to have been on the front row and now I just need to make a good start but I'm very confident with my race pace so we're looking forward to the two races tomorrow."


Ian Woollacott, team owner:

"If someone had offered us sixth position on the grid and a row two start for the first race tomorrow I'd have taken their hands off before we arrived at Brands. The fact that Tommy is a little bit disappointed to be sixth is testimony to the speed he's shown all weekend and had it not been for a couple of minor problems I do honestly think he would have been on the front row of the grid. Hopefully tomorrow he can get a couple of good results under his belt and that will have been a fantastic start to the season for us."

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Qualifying

1, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 45.565s
2, Tommy Hill (Suzuki) 45.691s
3, Alastair Seeley (Suzuki) 45.799s
4, Dan Linfoot (Yamaha) 45.843s
5, Josh Brookes (Honda) 45.861s
6, Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) 46.087s
7, Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 46.107s
8, Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 46.258s
9, Stuart Easton (Honda) 46.371s
10, James Ellison (Honda) DNS