Editorial Note: American James Rispoli, riding his Quattro Plant FS-3 Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR, qualified 13th in Superstock 1000 (which was held in “drying” conditions, according to series organizers) with a time of 1:41.703. The fastest time in the session, 1:39.148, was set by Danny Buchan on a Morello Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R.

American Brandon Paasch, riding his G & S Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R, qualified 21st in Superstock 600 with a time of 1:42.850. The fastest time in the session,1:40.229, was set by Brad Jones on a Yamaha YZF-R6.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship

Oulton Park, England

September 16, 2017

Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):

From Qualifying Knockout Session Three:

1. Jake Dixon, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:33.959

2. Shane Byrne, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:34.083

3. Josh Brookes, Australia (Yam YZF-R1), 1:34.109

4. Dan Linfoot, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:34.117

5. Leon Haslam, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:34.154

6. John Hopkins, USA (Duc Panigale R), 1:34.322

7. Christian Iddon, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:34.372

8. Peter Hickman, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:34.650

9. Tommy Bridewell, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:34.840

From Qualifying Knockout Session Two:

10. James Ellison, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:34.754

11. Bradley Ray, UK (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:34.772

12. Jason O’Halloran, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:34.837

13. Glenn Irwin, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:34.970

14. Martin Jessopp, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:35.109

15. Luke Mossey, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:35.116

16. Sylvain Guintoli, France (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:35.138

17. Michael Laverty, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:35.144

18. Lee Jackson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.976

From Qualifying Knockout Session One:

19. Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic (BMW S1000RR), 1:36.119

20. James Westmoreland, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.410

21. Dean Harrison, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:37.915

22. Shaun Winfield, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.967

23. Aaron Zanotti, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:38.248

More, from a press release issued by MotorSport Racing Vision:

Dixon claims Oulton Park pole position as top nine separated by just 0.881s ahead of opening Showdown races

Jake Dixon set a blistering pace in Datatag Qualifying at Oulton Park ahead of tomorrow’s opening MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship Showdown round to claim pole position with a time just 0.026s off the fastest ever lap of the Cheshire circuit.

The RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki rider left it until the final moment of Q3 to set the benchmark, displacing Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot from the top of the times. The positions then frantically changed in the closing stages with defending champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne firing through the order to leap back up to a front row starting position in second place, just 0.124s adrift of Dixon.

In the final minute Josh Brookes pushed Linfoot off the front row with a time that put him third fastest on the timesheets for the Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha team. Linfoot heads the second row, the leading Honda Racing contender as team-mate and Showdown contender Jason O’Halloran crashed out at Old Hall during Q2 unhurt. The Australian starts twelfth on the grid for tomorrow’s opening race.

Leon Haslam starts fifth onboard the JG Speedfit Kawasaki; he lies second in the standings ahead of tomorrow’s opening Showdown races with just six points separating him from leader Byrne. John Hopkins had another strong performance in Datatag Qualifying to complete the second row.

Christian Iddon heads row three on the leading BMW to hold off Showdown contender Peter Hickman in eighth place with Tommy Bridewell having one of his best qualifying showings of the season in ninth place for Team WD-40 Kawasaki.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, Datatag Qualifying:

Jake Dixon (RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki) 1m:33.959s

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.124s

Josh Brookes (Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha) +0.150s

Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.158s

Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.195s

John Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati) +0.363s

Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +0.413s

Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.691s

Tommy Bridewell (Team WD-40 Kawasaki) +0.881s

For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Jake Dixon

RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki

P1 in Datatag Qualifying

“We haven’t changed much this weekend and that has been the key. My confidence has been growing and I feel like I am getting stronger. I looked like I might get another faster lap in but I had a bit too much of a wheelie going on and it fluffed my braking into the chicane. We have some good pace, but nobody has really done any long distance runs other than Josh on the SC0 tyre because of the changing conditions.

“It will be two long hard races tomorrow but I am excited for it and I will be pushing on in the races. We made it into the Showdown and that was the goal for this year, so I feel the pressure is off a bit now especially signing for next year too, so I am going to have some fun tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by Be Wiser Ducati:

Front Row Start For Byrne At Oulton Park

Celebrating signing for Paul Bird’s team once again for 2018, Shane Byrne will line up on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike Championship race at Oulton Park after recording the second fastest time on the Be Wiser Ducati during qualifying this afternoon whereby team-mate Glenn Irwin will line up in 13th.

A mixture of conditions on Friday finally gave way to dry weather at the Cheshire venue today and the duo went into qualifying on their factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigales having set the fifth and sixth fastest times during the free qualifying sessions, and which saw Ulsterman Irwin edging out five-times former champion Byrne by just 0.055s.

Both riders comfortably made it into Q2 although Irwin was some way off his time set earlier in the morning. Nevertheless, he’d done enough and promptly went three-quarters of a second quicker in Q2 but it was Byrne who impressed more as he topped the leaderboard with a time of 1m 34.047s. A red flag came out with three minutes remaining and Irwin was unable to improve on his time of 1m 34.970s which left him in 13th place, only good enough for a fifth row start for tomorrow’s first race.

Londoner Byrne, however, was easily through to Q3 and had eight minutes to try and post another pole position for both himself and the team but despite his best efforts, Shakey’s time of 1m 34.083s will see him line up in second place and in the middle of the front row for tomorrow’s opening 18-lap race which forms the opening race in the title-deciding Showdown.

Shane Byrne: “I’m very happy with second today. After what happened last time out at Silverstone, I hit the reset button and came here feeling relaxed especially as we did so well here at Oulton back in May with first and second. But all weekend so far, we’ve struggled to get a good feeling with the bike for some reason but the team made some changes before qualifying which definitely worked. I made a couple of mistakes on both my fast laps, out-braking myself into the final corner, so it should have been pole but I’m happy with second place and the front row.”

Glenn Irwin: “I’m pretty frustrated that I didn’t make it into Q3 and there’s some critical areas that we need to work on, primarily the ability to hold the line through the fast corners. Shakey made some interesting set-up changes prior to qualifying, which clearly worked for him, so we’ll look at the data and may well follow suit tomorrow.”

Phil Borley, Technical Director: “We’re pretty happy with how today’s gone especially Shakey who’s in a good position for tomorrow. He made some good steps with set-up after struggling a bit on Friday and should be challenging for the race wins tomorrow where it will be critical not make any mistakes, the last thing you want is to be trying to make up lost ground in the Showdown. It was obviously disappointing for Glenn not to make it into the final segment of qualifying so there’s a few things we’ll look to change, particularly with the geometry of the front end, in order to get him closer to the sharp end tomorrow.”