2019 British Superbike Championship
Round Two – Oulton Park
Josh Brookes claimed the first Bennetts British Superbike Championship pole position for the new Ducati V4R at Oulton Park for the Be Wiser Ducati team ahead of the Monday races.
Josh Brookes – Be Wiser Ducati
Pole position
“I’ve just turned up to Oulton Park with a clear mind and put Silverstone behind me. Luckily we had a test here so we had great momentum, got a good setting of the bike and came here and refined it a little bit further.
“The team have done a fantastic job, we have been working through a lot of fine tuning – nothing big at the moment because the bike’s already in good range so it’s nice to be in that zone where you can do some fine tuning and just work through little areas to just refine the bike, as opposed to having to make big changes and hoping that works.
“I think we’re in a fantastic position, all I can say is that I’m pleased and looking forward to the races tomorrow. I just hope now that I can put this one-lap speed into race-long consistency.”
The 2015 champion set his personal best lap of the Cheshire circuit to lap under the existing record to hold off rivals Tommy Bridewell and Peter Hickman who complete the front row ahead of Monday’s Bank Holiday races.
Brookes had been the fastest rider on track yesterday, but he continued to make strides forward as the Australian upped the pace to give him the edge in the final stage of qualifying to head off Bridewell as Hickman claimed the first front row start for the new BMW S1000RR in third.
A hectic Q2 saw an intense fight to be in the final nine for the last stage of Datatag Qualifying and impressively in only his second round on a Superbike, rookie Ryan Vickers qualified for the first time in Q3. He will start ninth on the grid for the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team for tomorrow’s opening race.
Jason O’Halloran bounced back from an earlier crash in free practice to finish fourth fastest to head the second row from Christian Iddon on the Tyco BMW and Danny Buchan for FS-3 Racing Kawasaki ahead of tomorrow’s race one.
Scott Redding continues to try and grasp the technically challenging Oulton Park on his race debut at the track, firing himself into the top nine and qualifying seventh on the grid ahead of Keith Farmer.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship
Oulton Park, Datatag Qualifying
- Josh Brookes (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:34.084s
- Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Racing Ducati) +0.625s
- Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.801s
- Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +0.856s
- Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +0.929s
- Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) +0.938s
- Scott Redding (Be Wiser Ducati) +1.082s
- Keith Farmer (Tyco BMW) +1.143s
- Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) +1.259s
British Superstock 1000
Buildbase Suzuki’s Richard Cooper took his first pole position of the season at Oulton Park, just 0.419 from Taylor Mackenzie and Billy McConnell.
Cooper set the fastest time early on in the session, and Mackenzie set about chasing it down to leapfrog in to pole position. Although setting his fastest time late on, it wasn’t enough for the BMW man to take pole.
Rounding out the front row is OMG Racing’s Billy McConnell, with Lee Jackson fourth, Olsen fifth and Jones sixth.
Levi day qualified 13th while Brayden Elliott with start from position 32 on the grid.
British Supersport
Jack Kennedy has made it three victories from three races in the Dickies British Supersport Championship, cruising to a dominant victory in the opening Sprint race. It was Kennedy’s Appleyard Integro Yamaha team mate Brad Jones who grabbed the holeshot but the reigning champ had soon made his way past to lead at the end of the opening lap.
Jones did his best to fend of the advances of Alastair Seeley, but the former Champion made his move on lap four. At the front, Kennedy was able to continue to stretch his lead to eventually secure the victory by 3.601s and setting a new lap record in the process. Trying his hardest, Jones just could not find a way past the EHA Racing Yamaha of Seeley, missing out on second place by just 0.081s.
Kyle Ryde was again the leading British GP2 Cup machine, also his third win of the season, in fourth overall ahead of a strong ride from rookie Harry Truelove in fifth with Jamie Perrin sixth on the GP2 machine and Josh Owens seventh.
British Supersport Championship and GP2 Cup
Oulton Park, Sprint Race
- Jack Kennedy (Yamaha)
- Alastair Seeley (Yamaha) +3.601s
- Brad Jones (Yamaha) +3.682s
- Kyle Ryde (Kalex GP2) +18.658s
- Harry Truelove (Yamaha) +24.965s
- Jamie Perrin (GP2) +25.752s
Dickies British Supersport Championship and GP2 Cup
Championship Standings
- Jack Kennedy (Yamaha) 75
- Alastair Seeley (Yamaha) 60
- Brad Jones (Yamaha) 48
- Harry Truelove (Yamaha) 32
- Kurt Wigley (Yamaha) 28
- Lee Johnston (Yamaha) 26
Images by Dave Yeomans
Source: MCNews.com.au