Bayliss sizzles to provisional Brands pole

If the men from the Met are to be believed, today is going to see the start of a mini-heatwave over Brands Hatch, so if you’re heading down there today, click on this story for updates on news, qualifying and travel reports…Last updated 3.50.

Updated at 3.50

Troy Bayliss has blazed to another provisional pole position. The Infostrada Ducati rider had been on the outside of the front row, but with just minutes left in the session, Bayliss decided to put in one last effort.

He was almost launched out of the saddle on his first hot lap, when he highsided at Graham Hill Bend, but after a composing himself the Australian put a searing lap of 1:26.398, squeezing out Colin Edwards by just 0.052 seconds.

1)T Bayliss 1:26.398 2)C Edwards 1:26.450 3)R Xaus 1:26.599 4)N Hodgson 1:26.722 5)P Chili 1:26.786 6) M Rutter 1:26.877 7)S Byrne 1:27.242 8)C Walker 1:27.294 9)JB Borja 1:27.382 10)N Haga 1:27.449 11)G Lavilla 12)B Bostrom 13)J Toseland 1:27.766 14)G Richards 1:27.939 15)M Sanchini 16)D Ellison 1:28.064 17)S Martin 18)H Izutsu 19)M Borciani 20)P Goddard 21)L Pedercini 22)A Antonello 23)I Clementi 24) M Heckles 1:30.219 25)B Parkes 26)B Stey 27)Y Gyger

Updated at 3.00

As trackside temperatures climbed over thirty degrees, Colin Edwards has fired himself up for a provisional pole position at Brands Hatch today.

Edwards beat a resurgent Frankie Chili into second place by seven tenths, but more importantly, he is over a second faster than Troy Bayliss, back in fourth spot. Shakey Byrne is the top placed Brit with a sensational third, while Neil Hodgson could only manage 11th spot – nearly two seconds off Edwards’ pace.

1)C Edwards 2)PF Chili 3)S Byrne 4)T Bayliss 5)M Rutter 6)JB Borja 7)C Walker 8)G Richards 9)G Lavilla 10)R Xaus 11)N Hodgson 12)N Haga 13)L Pedercini 14)D Ellison 15)B Bostrom 16)M Sanchini 17)J Toseland 18)P Goddard 19)H Izutsu 20)M Borciani 21)S Martin 22)A Antonello 23)I Clementi 24)M Heckles 25)B Stey 26)Y Gyger

Updated at 2.30

Suzuki’s Stephane Chambon has clawed his way on to provisional pole in today’s World Supersport qualifying. The Frenchman needed just 16 laps to squeeze out countryman Christophe Cogan by three tenths. Paulo Casoli was third, with his Belgarda Yamaha teammate Jamie Whitham up to fifth after a dreadful 13th in this morning’s session.

Whitham told MCN: ” I’m pretty happy with that. I haven’t been on a bike for almost five weeks now and it took a while to get my head around it again. But it’s a good start and I’m feeling really confident. ”

1)S Chambon 1:29.473 2)C Cogan 1:29.803 3)P Casoli 1:29.838 4)F Foret 1:30.098 5)J Whitham 1:30.202 6)K Fujiwara 1:30.216 7) I MacPherson 1:30.238 8)A Pitt 1:30.325 9)S Cruciani 1:30.525 10)C Vermuelen 1:30.527 11)K Curtain 12)C Kellner 13) K Muggeridge 14)W Daemen 15)J Teuchert 16)P Bontempi 17)A Carlacci 18) A Corradi 19) R Frost 1:31.140 20)S Carpentier 21)S Easton 1:31.339 22)M Lagrieve 23)J Ellison 1:31.916 24)S Smart 1:31.987 25)J McGuinness 1:32.245 26)N Arnold 27)C Cipriani 28)G Nanelli.

Updated at 11.30:

With just a few seconds to go, the first practice session of the day has been red flagged for oil on the track. Honda’s Colin Edwards leads the field with a time of 1:27.205. A surprise second place is Michael Rutter, with his Renegade Racing Ducati teammate Shane Byrne in third.

Last year’s pole man Neil Hodgson is in fourth and James Toseland 10th on the second HM Plant Ducati. Chris Walker is 12th on the Fuchs Kawasaki.

WSB:

1)C Edwards 1:26.724 2)M Rutter 1:27.072 3)S Byrne 1:27.374 4)N Hodgson 1:27.417 5)JB Borja 1:28.065 6)T Bayliss 1:28.071 7)N Haga 1:28.088 8)B Bostrom 1:28.178 9)R Xaus 1:28.297 10)J Toseland 1:28.306 11)PF Chili 12)C Walker 1:28.669 13)G Richards 1:28.793 14)D Ellison 1:9.041 15)G Lavilla 16)M Sanchini 17)P Goddard 18)S Martin 19)A Antonello 20)L Pedercini 21)H Izutsu 22)M Borciani 23)I Clementi 24)B Parkes 25)B Stey 26)T Mulot 27)M Heckles 1:32.385 28)Y Gyger

WSS:

1)P Casoli 1:30.415 2)C Kellner 1:30.458 3)S Chambon 1:30.502 4)J Teuchert 1:30.593 5)K Fujiwara 1:30.596 6)I MacPherson 1:30.780 7)F Foret 1:30.883 8)P Bontempi 1:31.120 9)C Cogan 1:31.144 10)A Pitt 1:31.149 11)K Muggeridge 12)K Curtain 13)J Whitham 1:31.331 14)C Vermuelen 15)A Carlacci 16) S Cruciani 17) S Smart 1:32.098 18)R Frost 1:32.298 19)J McGuinness 1:32.330 20)J Ellison 1:32.416 21)M Lagrive 22)S Easton 1:32.607 23)N Arnold 24)W Daemen 25)S Carpentier 26)A Corradi 27)G Nannelli 28)C Cipriani

Updated at 9.30:

While the top men won’t emerge from their motorhomes until about 10.30 this morning, the latest news from MCN’s World Superbike reporter Andy Downes is that series leader Troy Bayliss is still suffering from a sore back, picked up from his crash in practice at Laguna.

There’s better news for his title rival, Honda’s Colin Edwards, though. It’s been announced his wife Alyssia is expecting their first child!

Traffic:

Organisers are predicting around 10,000 spectators for today’s practice. For anyone travelling to the circuit this morning, the RAC’s traffic monitoring services report the following jams en route:

KENT: M25 anti-clockwise Junction 2-3 (A20)

ESSEX: M25 clockwise Junction 29-31 (A127-A13), M25 clockwise J27-28 (M11-A12)

SURREY: M25 anticlockwise J12-11 (M3-A320 Chertsey), M25 anticlockwise J8-6 (A127 Reigate-A22 Godstone)

If you know of a traffic problem you can call us on 01733-468016 throughout the weekend and we’ll publish it right here.