Rutter on pole at Mondello

Michael Rutter has taken Pole position for the Mondello Park round of the British Superbike championship.

Rizla Suzuki rider John Reynolds held the top spot for most of the session, breaking his existing lap record by 1.5 seconds, but Rutter waited until the last minute to put in a storming lap of 1:39.548 on his HM Plant Honda Fireblade, which Reynolds just couldn’t match.

Dean Thomas took his Dienza Ducati to third place on the grid just 0.5 seconds behind Rutter while Scott Smart took the final place on the front row on his Hawk Kawasaki four tenths of a second down on Thomas.

Glen Richards on the second Hawl Kawasaki, followed by Yukio Kagayama on the Rizla Suzuki, Sean Emmetts Monstermob Ducati and the Virgin Yamaha of Tommy Hill finished the second row of the grid.

Times:

1 Michael Rutter (Honda) 1:39.548; 2 John Reynolds (Suzuki) 1:39.743; 3 Dean Thomas (Ducati) 1:40.048; 4 Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 1:40.089; 5 Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 1:40.322; 6 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 1:40.429; 7 Sean Emmett (Ducati) 1:41.146; 8 Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 1:41.184; 9 Gary Mason (Yamaha) 1:41.676; 10 James Haydon (Yamaha) 1:41.823; 11 Jon Kirkham (Suzuki) 1:42.340; 12 Dennis Hobbs (Suzuki) 1:42.447.