Rutter takes pole for Knockhill

A brief dry spell before the Super 12 qualifying session allowed Michael Rutter to put in the only lap on slicks before the rain started again and slowed things down allowing him to take the fastest lap at 52.078.

Paul Young came back from a crash in the qualifying session to take the second fastest time of the day on his Yamaha R1 closely followed by Kawasaki rider Glen Richards and Shane Byrne on the Monstermob Ducati.

John Reynolds crashed in the wet on the same corner that took out his team-mate Yukio Kagayama but he managed to get back on and put in a 52.853 lap, taking him to fifth on the grid.

Sixth place went to Steve Hislop on the Virgin Yamaha followed by Jon Kirkham and Steve Plater.

Sean Emmett would have been the second rider to get a lap in before the rain came down but he lost the back wheel on both of the first two corners and decided to finish the lap slowly rather than risk crashing, blaming the slides on a bad tyre.

Times:

1 Michael Rutter 52.078 2 Paul Young 52.337 3 Glen Richards 52.534 4 Shane Byrne 52.690 5 John Reynolds 52.853 6 Steve Hislop 53.208 7 Jon Kirkham 53.358 8 Steve Plater 53.527 9 Gary Mason 54.684 10 John McGuinness 55.051 11 Scott Smart 56.058 12 Sean Emmett 1:05.670

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