Oulton Park British Superbikes: Second career pole for Cal Crutchlow

HM Plant Honda’s Cal Crutchlow has built on his brilliant Honda debut performance from Thruxton by securing pole position for tomorrow’s Oulton Park races.

Crutchlow set a fastest time of 1.36.605 to guarantee his second ever pole following last season’s first position start at Croft with the Rizla Suzuki.

But it wasn’t easy for the 22-year old Coventry rider.

He came under threat from four other riders at the close of the session, all gunning to start from the prize position on the grid tomorrow.

“Wet or dry we’ve been up there all weekend so far,” said Crutchlow.

“The team has done a fantastic job – I was pleased with how we rode because we were at the top for the whole of the session so we know we can run fast times on a race setup rather than just putting in one flying lap.

“I want to carry on my success from Thruxton and my first pole of the year is a good start.”

Lining up next to Crutchlow on the grid tomorrow will be the man who is sharing the championship lead with, Shane Byrne.

Shakey’s best time was a 1.37.188, narrowly beating out Rizla Suzuki’s Tom Sykes who was under a tenth behind him on with a scorching performance on the GSX-R1000K8.

Leon Haslam completes the first row despite having a crash at Druids with half an hour to go on his number one machine.

Despite the session starting off wet and finishing out virtually totally dry, not many rides succumbed to the changing conditions.

The second row will be headed by Michael Rutter who was demoted from the front row in the closing seconds, ahead of the still-injured Karl Harris, Airwaves Ducati’s Leon Camier and Michael Laverty who managed to resolve problems he was having with his Relentless Suzuki yesterday.

Oulton Park British Superbikes qualifying results:

1. Cal Crutchlow HM Plant Honda 1.36.605
2. Shane Byrne Airwaves Ducati 1.37.188
3. Tom Sykes Rizla Suzuki 1.37.244
4. Leon Haslam HM Plant Honda 1.37.390
5. Michael Rutter North West 200 Ducati 1.37.510
6. Karl Harris RM Racing Yamaha 1.37.908
7. Leon Camier Airwaves Ducati 1.38.089
8. Michael Laverty Relentless Suzuki 1.38.565
9. James Ellison Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 1.38.653
10. Simon Andrews Jentin Racing Yamaha 1.38.712
11. Stuart Easton MSS Discovery Kawasaki 1.38.920
12. Scott Smart Hawk Racing Kawasaki 1.39.327
13. Guy Martin Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 1.39.335
14. David Johnson Team Maxxis Honda 1.39.580
15. John Laverty Buildbase NW200 Ducati 1.39.623
16. Tristan Palmer Tena for Men Honda 1.39.658