Round 8 Cadwell Park 25-26 August
LOWES ON A HIGH WITH SCORCHING CADWELL PARK POLE POSITION
Results
Datatag Extreme qualifying:
1: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) 1m:26.708s
2: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.652s
3: James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha) +1.003s
4: PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +1.026s
5: Tommy Bridewell (Halsall Racing Kawasaki) +1.178s
6: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Samsung Honda) +1.253s
Report
Alex Lowes set a scintillating lap to claim his fifth pole start of the season ahead of the Bank Holiday Monday eighth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at his home round of Cadwell Park.
The Lincolnshire rider thrilled his legions of fans with a stunning lap as he headed off the challenge of series leading Shane Byrne by over half a second. The Samsung Honda rider believes that the home advantage will be key to his success, boosting both his current third place in the overall standings and also adding to his podium credits score.
After his remarkable lap of 1m 26.708secs, Lowes said: “All of the fans here are worth half a second a lap to me but as good as it is to be on pole, it does not count for anything as the races are what matters tomorrow. I know that they will be hard, but I am going to get a good early night to be ready for them and then will be giving everything.”
Byrne starts his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki alongside him, but still has work to if he is going to add to his tally of nine wins this season. He said: “We have been chipping away but I still feel like we are a session behind so we have a bit still to do in morning warm up and then it should be good for the races tomorrow, especially as there should be a huge crowd here.”
Both Lowes and Byrne have qualified for the title-deciding Showdown sequence of races but James Ellison has still to make the cut and the Milwaukee Yamaha rider is well placed to claim that this weekend having secured a front row start. Ellison’s position means that three different manufacturers feature on the front row for tomorrow’s opening race.
American PJ Jacobsen heads the second row on his Tyco Suzuki ahead of Halsall Kawasaki’s Tommy Bridewell and Samsung Honda’s three times title winner Ryuichi Kiyonari who needs strong results in these races to ease him into the Showdown.
Aussie Josh Brookes who currently holds second in the standings will start from the third row of the grid after he crashed out unhurt at Barn in the final qualifying session.
Brookes said: “We’ve gone away from the normal strategy this weekend and are trying a few things, but to fall off was just me trying hard. You get to the final qualifying and I wanted to try as hard as I could and I just pushed the front. It was never going to be an amazing lap but it was definitely one of the best laps that I’d been on. I’m not hurt and the bike is not too bad so we should be in good shape for the opening race tomorrow.”
The Buildbase BMW pairing also had a challenging qualifying session as they bid for a position in the top six ahead of the Showdown with James Westmoreland and Jon Kirkham starting eleventh and eighteenth respectively.
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JACOBSEN IMPRESSES IN CADWELL DEBUT
Team Suzuki Press Office - August 25.
Tyco Suzuki's American sensation PJ Jacobsen produced a stunning debut performance earlier today at Cadwell Park, qualifying his GSX-R1000 in fourth place for tomorrow's opening race of the British Superbike Championship eighth round.
His team-mate Josh Brookes crashed out whilst on a hot lap during the final stages of the 'Q3' qualifying session, but still managed seventh place for tomorrow's opening race at the Bank Holiday meeting in Lincolnshire.
A delighted but pragmatic 20-year-old Jacobsen said: "Yeah it was a good qualifying for the first time being here I guess. I'm happy enough with fourth. I rode the best I could there in qualifying and the boys did a great job with my Tyco Suzuki. We've just made little improvements as the weekend has gone on, and as I get more and more confidence over the jump, I think we can get an even better lap time - but yeah all good."
Josh Brookes was also upbeat after qualifying despite his crash at Barn, saying: "Even without the crash we were a little slower than we needed to be, but I knew that would be the case as we're trying things with the bike and using this as an opportunity to unveil anything that we haven't tried or discovered before. We've gone away from the normal strategy this weekend and are trying a few things, but to fall off was just me trying hard. You get to the final qualifying and I wanted to try as hard as I could and I just pushed the front. It was never going to be an amazing lap but it was definitely one of the best laps that I'd been on. I'm not hurt and the bike is not too bad so we should be in good shape for the opening race tomorrow."
Team Manager Philip Neill added: "We never like to get carried away in this team, but that was a very impressive debut performance at Cadwell Park on a Superbike by anyone's standards. PJ has chipped away and made great progress all weekend and fourth place is credit to PJ, his crew and the GSX-R1000. Josh had a little slip-off at the end, but we can't fault him for trying hard. There's no major damage done to bike or rider and although the third row is not ideal, Josh has the experience and determination not to let it be an obstacle."
British Superbike Qualifying:
1 - Alex Lowes [Honda] 1:26.708
2 - Shane Byrne [Kawasaki] +0.652s
3 - James Ellison [Yamaha] +1.003s
4 - PJ Jacobsen [Tyco Suzuki] +1.026s
5 - Tommy Bridewell [Kawasaki] +1.178s
6 - Ryuichi Kiyonari [Honda] +1.253s
7 - Josh Brookes [Tyco Suzuki] +1.558s
Monday Schedule:
1pm - British Superbike Race 1 [18 laps]
3.30pm - British Supersport Race 2 [16 laps]
4.30pm - British Superbike Race 2 [18 laps]
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FRONT ROW START FOR MILWAUKEE YAMAHA AT CADWELL PARK
Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison will start from the front row for tomorrow’s opening race at the eighth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Cadwell Park after qualifying third on the grid.
Ellison continued improving his pace in the final free practice session in preparation for the qualifying session and the team’s hard work paid off as he was able to set his best lap time at the Lincolnshire circuit with a time of 1m:27.711s. Waters continued to make further improvement and he will start on the fifth row of the grid from thirteenth position.
Ellison said: “I am pleased with a front row start today as that is what we needed here at Cadwell Park. We always find more in the race and for the final rounds I knew we needed to up our game in qualifying. It was a really close session but we managed to get a front row for Milwaukee Yamaha and that was the best lap I have done around this circuit. Hopefully our consistency pays off tomorrow because we want to be pushing for two podiums as we need to get our place in the Showdown confirmed now.”
Waters said: “We made some more improvements since yesterday as this is a very different circuit to what we have raced on so far this year. I am enjoying the challenge of this track though and I know I still need to improve in the final sector because that is where I have been losing time today. I will be trying my best in the races tomorrow.”
For more information visit www.milwaukeeyamaha.com
