Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill set a sensational pace at Donington Park this afternoon to shatter the lap record to secure his fourth pole position of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season and the first of the Showdown.

Hill said:

"The races are never easy and I knew that I would be pushed all the way for the pole position this afternoon. I knew Michael was going to be behind me so I just stayed out and got my head down and it was good enough for pole. It is going to be tight tomorrow and I know we have a slight advantage in the standings but we need to keep pushing for wins and get the Swan Yamaha back on the podium in the two races tomorrow. We need to get a good start, stay focused and treat one race at a time because we need to stay ahead of the other Title Fighters."

In Q1 Hopkins was the only rider on track to dip into the sub 1m:30s lap times on the Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki as he moved ahead of the Swan Yamaha pairing with 14 minutes remaining as Hill and Laverty ended the session in second and third respectively. Byrne again was at the sharp end on the HM Plant Honda moving up the order during the session to fourth, whilst his Title Fighter team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari struggled in 17th position and only made the top 20 cut in the final five minutes, with Motorpoint Yamaha's Alex Lowes also just making it through to Q2 in 20th. Title Fighter Josh Brookes was ninth as he clawed his way up the order in the final minutes on the Relentless Suzuki by TAS.

Laverty topped the Q2 session on the Swan Yamaha as he edged out team-mate Hill by just 0.036s as the pair moved ahead of Hopkins, who had topped the opening qualifying stage but took third place in Q2. Byrne again made the cut through to the final stage in sixth; however it was a tense session for the other two Title Fighters Kiyonari and Brookes who only moved inside the top ten in the closing stages in eighth and tenth respectively.

The final session saw Hill set an impressive lap and became the only rider in the sub 1m:29s lap time to remain ahead of team-mate Laverty with Hopkins securing third place. The final front row position saw Peter Hickman on the Tyco Honda push Byrne to row two; the HM Plant Honda rider just failed to get a final flying lap in before the chequered flag and he had to settle for fifth ahead of Jon Kirkham who moved up the order in the closing stages. Kiyonari was seventh ahead of Brookes in eighth as Graeme Gowland again had an impressive session to finish ninth as James Ellison completed the top ten.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, qualifying result:

Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1m:28.869s
Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.389s
John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) +0.780
Peter Hickman (Tyco Honda) +1.305s
Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) +1.504s
Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) +1.519s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +1.570s
Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +1.605s
Graeme Gowland (WFR Honda) +1.673s
James Ellison (Sorrymate.com Honda) +1.777s

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