Swan Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga will start from the second row of the grid for his debut race in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch tomorrow after qualifying sixth at the Kent circuit while his team-mate Tommy Hill will start from the eighth row after a crash in the opening qualifying session.

The conditions continued to change as the riders began the race one grid-deciding qualifying session and as Hill aimed to set a lap he was caught out by the conditions and crashed uninjured at Graham Hill Bend. The reigning champion was unable to continue the session as the Swan Yamaha had suffered damage that could not be repaired before the end of Q1.

The lone Swan Yamaha of Haga continued to challenge in qualifying; he comfortably made it through to Q2 as it began to drizzle at the circuit, however the Japanese ace was able to set a lap time to qualify for the final session. Haga’s lap of the 1.2-mile Indy circuit in the final session put him sixth for tomorrow’s opening race.

Hill said:

“It was unfortunate for me to have had a qualifying session like that; it was hit and miss with the weather and I felt confident that we could secure a good position. I was on a lap and came up on a slower rider and I went down the inside but as I went off line I hit a wet patch and I just went down. I tried to pick the Swan Yamaha up, but unfortunately there was too much damage to get it back and out on track again. I am a bit gutted but tomorrow is another day; I just need to try and come through the pack at the start but it is ok, I will have my binoculars with me!”

Haga said:

“I am quite happy with qualifying; I had experience of a qualifying system like this one in WSB. For sure they were difficult conditions as between the three sessions it kept changing. In the first session I was on a slick tyre so was very careful as there was a dry line and I didn’t want to move off it. The next stage it started raining and I was testing the tyre and then at the end I did a good lap time so I could go to the final stage. The last session was most difficult I think; as I was exiting some parts were wet, some were dry and there would be no time to change the tyres if we chose the wrong one. I am happy as I am starting from a good position which is very important here on this track. Today I also had a look at some places I can look at passes tomorrow and now I just need to make sure I get a good start. I want an exciting race, like I have seen before in BSB, so I am excited for tomorrow and hopefully we can get good results for the Swan Yamaha team.”

Team manager Gary Ekerold concluded:

“As we have seen before in this championship anything can happen and that has been the case today. Tommy led the practice sessions yesterday and with tricky conditions today it was just unfortunate that he had a crash, but it is recoverable as we have also seen before. Noriyuki’s solid results in his first qualifying session give him a good position to start working from tomorrow.”

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