Rea on pole at Brands BSB

Jonathan Rea is on pole position for tomorrow’s opening round of the Bennett’s British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

The HM Plant Honda rider was only fifth in the morning’s free practice but unleashed his full fury in the 50-minute qualifying session in the afternoon to claim pole by 0.24s from Airwaves Ducati rider Gregorio Lavilla.

Rea said: “In free practice I purposely held back because I knew what we had for qualifying and didn’t want to show my hand. I’d not tried a qualifier before but I knew what I had and I knew what my bike had.

“Brands isn’t one of my favourite tracks and I lost confidence in the front yesterday when I nearly crashed but my team transformed the bike for me today. My race pace is good so I’m confident about tomorrow.”

Lavilla has been back on top form despite his crash at Sheene curve yesterday. He was fastest in free practice in the morning and only missed out on pole by two tenths in qualifying.

Leon Camier continues his astounding form in his first BSB meeting on a Honda superbike. He was second quickest in free practice then finished third in qualifying, clocking a 1:25.73 lap – and also has been putting in good times on race rubber.

Leon Haslam completes tomorrow’s front row with a 1:25.81 on the second Airwaves Ducati but reckons he could have got into the low 25s if he’d got a good run on his qualifying tyre. His best lap came from a pre-qualifier, which is more durable and normally less sticky than a qualifier.

Rizla Suzuki duo Chris Walker and Cal Crutchlow are fifth and sixth respectively. Walker and his crew have made big strides in chassis set-up this weekend to the point where the Stalker says he is now enjoying every minute on the GSX-R1000.

Crutchlow also pulled the stops out today after crashing in free practice this morning. What looked like a minor tumble turned out to require an engine swap when the bike ingested some of the gravel from the run-off area.

Shane Byrne is seventh quickest, having taken it too steady on his out lap with his first qualifier. He was fastest on race tyres and his pace on race tyres should ensure he’s a front runner.

British champion Ryuichi Kiyonari continues to run off the pace with the second of the HM Plant Hondas. He wound up eighth in qualifying, 1.04s slower than team-mate Rea, but insists he has no major problems and will be competitive tomorrow.