Josh Brookes was instantly back in the BSB groove today following a fortnight at the Isle of Man TT, taking second place in British Superbike qualifying at Knockhill in Scotland.

The Tyco Suzuki rider narrowly missed-out on pole position by just a100th-of-a-second to title rival Shane Byrne in the third and final qualifying session, but will start tomorrow's opening race at round four from the front row in second place.

Tyco Suzuki team-mate PJ Jacobsen also had a productive day on his BSB debut at the Scottish venue, impressively making the final qualifying session, before taking sixth place and a second-row grid spot for tomorrow's opening 30-lap race at 1pm.

Josh Brookes:

"People were quick to say that it would take me a while to get back up to speed on the short circuits after the TT and I sort of resented that. If you can do 10 years of what I've been doing, and then go to the roads and go as quick as I did, then you should be able to turn around and go back to the circuits and be on the pace quick enough - like I have done.

"I've done my personal best round here in qualifying and the bike is working well. I've done quite a few quick laps and a couple at the peak time so I'm happy enough with that. The qualifying is more about the front row than pole position, as it's really difficult to pass around here, so we are in a good position to fight it out in race one."

PJ Jacobsen:

"It's really good to get a decent qualifying in; my best so far in British Superbike. I'm just learning the track more-and-more so the more laps I get, the better at this stage. It was also really good to get behind Josh and see what he was doing different than me, so yeah it sets me up well for the opening race tomorrow."

Taylor Mackenzie scored points in today's opening British Supersport race posting 14th place on his GSX-R600 in a shortened 13-lap encounter.

Philip Neill - Team Manager:

"It's good to see Josh getting back into BSB mode so quickly after his TT exploits and his consistency today was impressive. As he says, the front row is an important starting position and sets us up well for race one. I'm also delighted for PJ who arrived here with a successful test at Kirkistown under his belt, which was a confidence-booster after such a long break. He's done well today and the second row will give him an opportunity to run with the faster guys and learn even more in the first race tomorrow.

"The shortened Supersport race didn't give Taylor a good shot at a top 10, but thankfully he will get another run tomorrow over 26 laps."

British Superbike Qualifying:

1: Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) 48.333s
2: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.010s
3: Alex Lowes (Honda) +0.316s
4: Jon Kirkham (BMW) +0.650s
5: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +0.653s
6: PJ Jacobsen (Suzuki) +0.735s

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