Shane 'Shakey' Byrne smashed the lap record at Cadwell Park to claim pole position for tomorrow's opening MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at the Lincolnshire circuit from Ryuichi Kiyonari. It was disappointment for Josh Brookes though as the Australian failed to set a lap time in Q3 and he will start tenth.

Byrne had brushed off his crash this morning at Hall Bends to come out fighting in the Datatag Qualifying session, making the cut from Brookes and Kiyonari. The triple champion saved his best until last though and proved he is ready to fight for his first win since Knockhill by scorching to the top of the timesheets.

Kiyonari had been confident but he had to settle for second ahead of Tommy Bridewell who claimed his first front row start of the session for Milwaukee Yamaha. Bridewell's best lap pushed the Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki of Chris Walker to fourth, whilst team-mate James Ellison looks set to sit out tomorrow's races despite a heroic effort to return this weekend form injury.

The RAF Reserves Honda team celebrated their best qualifying performance of the season with Peter Hickman ahead of Josh Waters in sixth to complete the second row. Jon Kirkham held on to seventh for the Halsall Biker Gear Kawasaki team, forcing ahead of John Hopkins and Dan Linfoot.

There was drama in the Milwaukee Yamaha garage as Brookes failed to set a lap, he left pitlane in the final moments of the session and narrowly missed being able to have a single flying lap. The Australian will now start from the fourth row.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, Datatag Extreme Qualifying:

Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) 1m:26.017s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Buildbase BMW) +0.904s
Tommy Bridewell (Milwaukee Yamaha) +1.664s
Chris Walker (Lloyds British GBmoto Racing Kawasaki) +1.700s
Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves Honda) +1.754s
Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +1.960s
Jon Kirkham (Halsall Biker Gear Kawasaki) +1.978s
John Hopkins (Tyco Suzuki) +2.037s
Dan Linfoot (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +2.197s
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha)



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