Hill had taken the early advantage in the final eight minute session, but it was frantic on circuit as Brookes, Rutter, and Michael Laverty also looked to steal the pole position in the final minutes.

Hill said: "I am happy to be on pole; it is always the goal but to be honest we have struggled a bit this weekend and everyone is so fast I knew it would be tough. We have changed the forks over several times and then went back to basics but now we are up here and that is the main thing. We needed to be here though as it is so close between the top guys that anything less would have made life tough for race one."

Gary Mason crashed out of the second qualifying session at Charlies whilst running in the top three; the MSS Colchester Kawasaki rider was unable to rejoin the track for the final Q3 knockout.

Hill powered the Worx Crescent Suzuki to consistently fast laps to annihilate the fastest laps of the weekend so far, but high-flying Brookes was on a charge but it wasn't enough for the HM Plant Honda to take the pole position.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, Swan Roll for Pole result:

Tommy Hill (Worx Crescent Suzuki) 1:27.744
Josh Brookes (HM Plant Honda) +0.355s
Michael Rutter (Ridersmotorcycles.com Ducati) +0.481s
Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda) +0.524s
Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.716s
Tommy Bridewell (Quay Garage Honda) +0.736s
Stuart Easton (Swan Honda) +0.758s
Chris Walker (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +1.183s
John Laverty (Buildbase Kawasaki) +1.239s