After Leon Haslam (Donington Park) and Bradley Ray (Brands Hatch Indy), at Oulton Park the pole position went to the “King” of BSB. Yes, because at the Qualifying Practice session Shane Byrne was the protagonist of a stunning performance, with which he managed to beat the youngsters (both born in the ’90s) Jake Dixon and Glenn Irwin, who complete the first row. After being the most consistent rider in FPs, the 6 times BSB Champion was the best also in the time attack: first in Q2 (1’34″152), first also in the decisive Q3, where he performed a lap in 1’33″979, very close to the pole record set by Byrne himself in 2016 (1’33″933).
Another wonderful performance by Shakey, who will start Race 1 from pole position and will try to collect some good points for the championship and, why not, one more win at Oulton Park (where he has already scored 11 victories so far). But Byrne, as usual in this British Superbike season, will have a hard time, because he will have to face many strong opponents, including Jake Dixon (21 years old, poleman here last September), who is back in the front thanks to some good updates on his RAF Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, and Glenn Irwin, whose potential and pace could make May Day Bank Holiday wonderful for PBM Be Wiser Ducati.
Of course we’ll not underrate Leon Haslam (who ranked fourth after making a little mistake at Hizzy’s chicane during his first attack), Jason O’Halloran and Luke Mossey, who will start Race 1 from the second row. Third row for a convincing Tommy Bridewell (Halsall Racing Suzuki), Peter Hickman (8th) and championship leader Bradley Ray (9th). Hickman, who’s going to race at North West 200 and TT, could perform just one jap in Q3 due to a crash he had in Q2, that forced Smiths Racing BMW to work hard to fix the bike for the final session. It went even worse to Ray, who feel at Lodge and was then called back to the pits to verify the conditions of his Suzuki GSX-R 1000, as imposed by the rules. But he didn’t reply to the call of Race Direction ando so the 20-year-old man from Ashford had no lap timed. So, Ray will have to start Race 1 from ninth place.
Ray will try to replicate the stunning performance of last September at Oulton Park (third in Race 2, his first podium in BSB) and he will be joined by many riders improving step by step after a hard season start. One of them is James Ellison, who didn’t make it to Q3 for just 23 milliseconds and will start from fourth row together with Joshua Brookes (struggling after a good start of the weekend) and Taylor Mackenzie. 18th place for returning Ryuichi Kiyonari, who went to Q2 for just 84 milliseconds, but then crashed at Hizzy’s (uninjured). Many problems for Tyco BMW by TAS: Christian Iddon won’t race because of his left hand fracture in Friday’s FPs and Michael Laverty, on the podium both at Brands Hatch Indy and 24 Heures Motos (with Penz13 BMW), ranked 21st.
2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship 2018
Oulton Park
Q3 Classification
01- Shane Byrne – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R – 1’33.979
02- Jake Dixon – RAF Regular & Reserves – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.130
03- Glenn Irwin – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R – + 0.258
04- Leon Haslam – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.302
05- Jason O’Halloran – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.425
06- Luke Mossey – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR – + 0.543
07- Tommy Bridewell – Movuno.com Halsall – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.196
08- Peter Hickman – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR – + 1.669
09- Bradley Ray – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – no time
Race 1 Starting Grid
01- Shane Byrne – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R
02- Jake Dixon – RAF Regular & Reserves – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
03- Glenn Irwin – Be Wiser Ducati – Ducati Panigale R
04- Leon Haslam – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
05- Jason O’Halloran – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR
06- Luke Mossey – JG Speedfit Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
07- Tommy Bridewell – Movuno.com Halsall – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
08- Peter Hickman – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR
09- Bradley Ray – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
10- James Ellison – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
11- Danny Buchan – FS-3 Racing Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
12- Josh Brookes – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
13- Taylor Mackenzie – Moto Rapido Ducati – Ducati Panigale R
14- Richard Cooper – Buildbase Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
15- Kyle Ryde – CF Motorsport Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
16- Tarran Mackenzie – McAMS Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
17- Jakub Smrz – Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad – BMW S1000RR
18- Ryuichi Kiyonari – Honda Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR
19- Gino Rea – OMG Racing UK LTD – Suzuki GSX-R 1000
20- Sylvain Barrier – Smiths Racing – BMW S1000RR
21- Michael Laverty – Tyco BMW Motorrad – BMW S1000RR
22- Mason Law – Team WD-40 – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
23- Martin Jessopp – RidersMotorcycles.com BMW – BMW S1000RR
24- Dean Harrison – Silicone Engineering – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
25- Shaun Winfield – Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha – Yamaha YZF R1
26- David Johnson – Gulf BMW – BMW S1000RR
27- Carl Phillips – Gearlink Kawasaki – Kawasaki ZX-10RR
28- Conor Cummins – Padgetts Racing – Honda CBR 1000RR