Jessopp takes first ever Macau Grand Prix pole

Martin Jessopp has taken his first ever Macau Grand Prix pole position in this morning’s second qualifying session for the Chinese race, holding off fellow BMW rider Michael Rutter by over a second to secure the pole.

Jessopp controlled the session for most of the 45 minutes, becoming the first to dip first into the 2:26 and 2:25 laps before eventually ending on 2:24.387, 1.137 clear of Rutter’s Penz13.com BMW.

Peter Hickman made it a 1-2-3 for the German manufacturer, taking the Birggs Equipment machine to third, 0.7 behind Rutter and 0.5 clear of Ian Hutchinson on the PBM Kawasaki in fourth.

Yesterday’s provisional pole man John McGuinness was fifth on the Honda Fireblace, ahead of Gary Johnson on the second Penz13.com BMW and his teammate Conor Cummins, with Horst Saiger rounding out the top ten ahead of reigning champion Stuart Easton and Northern Irishman Lee Johnston.

The session was red flagged after only a few laps when Tom McHale came off at the notoriously fast Mandarin corner. The newcomer is reported to have head and limb injuries but regained consciousness at the scene of the crash before being transported to local hospital.

POS	NO	RIDER	NAT	TEAM	TIME	LAPS	GAP
1	40	Martin Jessopp	GBR	Riders Motorcycles BMW	2:24.387	13
2	7	Michael Rutter	GBR	Penz13.com BMW Motorrad Motorsport by MGM China	2:25.524	13	1.137
3	60	Peter Hickman	GBR	Briggs Equipment BMW	2:26.269	12	1.882
4	9	Ian Hutchinson	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport Ltd	2:26.791	15	2.404
5	4	John McGuinness	GBR	Honda Racing	2:26.810	12	2.423
6	5	Gary Johnson	GBR	Penz13.com BMW Motorrad Motorsport by MGM China	2:26.879	13	2.492
7	22	Conor Cummins	IOM	Honda Racing	2:27.030	11	2.643
8	3	Horst Saiger	LIE	Saiger-Heidger Macau Race Team	2:27.953	14	3.566
9	1	Stuart Easton	GBR	SMT/Booth Yamaha	2:28.431	13	4.044
10	13	Lee Johnston	GBR	East Coast Construction	2:29.594	10	5.207
11	15	Jimmy Storrar	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport Ltd	2:29.968	13	5.581
12	20	Dan Cooper	GBR	Space Centre Racing	2:30.303	13	5.916
13	16	David Johnson	AUS	Ice Valley by Motorsave Trade	2:30.330	15	5.943
14	10	Mark Miller	USA	Splitlath EBR	2:30.445	13	6.058
15	26	Didier Grams	GER	Saiger-Heidger Macau Race Team	2:30.764	12	6.377
16	111	Brian McCormack	IRL	TAG Racing	2:31.483	11	7.096
17	48	Herve Gantner	SUI	Penz13.com BMW Motorrad	2:31.638	12	7.251
18	54	Steve Heneghan	IRL	ReactiveParts.com	2:32.545	12	8.158
19	39	Allann-Jon Venter	RSA	CF Racing Team 32	2:33.516	14	9.129
20	34	Ben Wylie	GBR	Bimota Factory Racing	2:33.532	14	9.145
21	11	Paul Shoesmith	GBR	Ice Valley by Motorsave Trade	2:34.036	13	9.649
22	62	Sam West	GBR	PR Racing LLOYD & JONES Kawasaki	2:34.038	11	9.651
23	14	Andre Pires	POR	Team SBK/IncortCar # Yamaha	2:35.019	14	10.632
24	24	James McBride	GBR	Morello Racing	2:35.559	12	11.172
25	6	Ivan Lintin	GBR	RC Express Racing	2:35.867	13	11.480
26	71	Davy Morgan	GBR	Magic Bullet Racing	2:36.266	15	11.879
27	31	Dan Kruger	CAN	Penz13.com by Special Olympics & MGM Macau	2:37.056	10	12.669
28	88	Brandon Cretu	USA	Bimota Factory Racing	2:37.151	12	12.764
29	18	Nuno Caetano	POR	FMP Team Portugal	2:37.992	5	13.605
30	65	Michael Sweeney	IRL	Martin Jones Racing	2:41.133	5	16.746
31	90	Tom McHale	GBR	CF Racing Team 32	undefined	1
32	72	Russell Mountford	GBR	VRS Racing	undefined