From a press release issued by MSS Discovery Kawasaki Team:

British Supersport / Superstock Championships ­ Round one ­ Silverstone
Saturday March 27 2004

POLE POSITION FOR ZX-10R AND MSS DISCOVERY KAWASAKI AT SILVERSTONE

The MSS Discovery Kawasaki team made a dream debut with the new ZX-10R machine as Steve Allan blasted to pole position for Sunday’s opening round of the National Superstock Championship at Silverstone, Northants.

And MSS Discovery Kawasaki Supersport team-mates Pere Riba and Rob Frost are predicting explosive action in Sunday’s opening British round after a thrilling final qualifying session at Silverstone on Saturday.

Allan’s Superstock pole position means the Scotsman heads the grid for the first time in his career in the class and provides the perfect start to the campaign for the new Kawasaki ZX-10R.

“I can’t fault the machine at all,” said Allan. “It’s got the speed and handles superbly and it’s all left me really excited about tomorrow’s race and the year ahead.”

Allan’s pole position time came in Saturday morning’s qualifying session before the 29-year-old crashed out of the final session of the day.

Allan explained: “It was a really stupid crash and I’m embarrassed by it. I was actually slowing down to pull into the pits when I lost control of the front. There was a bit of cement dust about from an earlier crash and I think that distracted me.”

Allan heads the grid for the 18-lap Superstock battle while his team-mates in the MSS Discovery Kawasaki squad are in action earlier in the day for the British Supersport Championship encounter.

Spaniard Riba scooped a second row start for the 20-lap race with seventh place on the grid and the former Grand Prix and World Superbike star is confident of challenging for victory in Sunday’s race.

“We’re still learning about the ZX-6RR and I go faster each time I take to the track,” reported the Barcelona ace. “I’m not worried at all about the race, I’m certain I’ll be able to race with the leaders.

“We have a good race set-up and I know I could have qualified higher but ran out of time. We have a completely new machine so we’re thinking as much about a 13-round championship as we are about one race.

“We are still to find the perfect qualifying setting with the machine so we can make full use of the softer compound tyres for a fast lap.”

Frost starts the Supersport battle from 18th place on the grid and the hard-charging Lincolnshire rider expects to be challenging for a placing much higher up the pack on Sunday afternoon.

Frost commented: “We got a little bit lost on set-up in the final qualifying session but there is so much to come from the machine over the next few weeks that I’m certain we’ll just keep getting better and better.”

Frost continued: “Starting from where I am on the grid is not a problem and we’re confident about our race set-up so I’ll be going for it as hard as I can from the start.”

British Supersport Championship final qualifying times:

1. Simon Andrews, Yamaha, 1:29.692
2. Jay Vincent, Honda, 1:29.858
3. Karl Harris, Honda, 1:29.903
4. Craig Jones, Triumph, 1:29.954
5. Leon Camier, Honda, 1:30.120
6. Cal Crutchlow, Honda, 1:30.315
7. Pere Riba, Kawasaki, 1:30.362
8. Michael Laverty, Ducati, 1:30.502
9. Tom Sykes, Suzuki, 1:30.657
10. Jonathan Rea, Honda, 1:30.666

18. Rob Frost, Kawasaki, 1:31.916


National Superstock Championship final qualifying times:

1. Steve Allan, Kawasaki, 1:30.292
2. Ben Wilson, Suzuki, 1:30.439
3. Andy Tinsley, Suzuki, 1:30.591
4. Danny Beaumont, Yamaha, 1:30.727
5. Jamie Morley, Suzuki, 1:30.738
6. Mark Heckles, Yamaha, 1:30.744
7. Tristan Palmer, Suzuki, 1:31.004
8. Les Shand, Yamaha, 1:31.296
9. David Johnson, Yamaha, 1:31.369
10. Craig Fitzpatrick, Suzuki, 1:31.503


More, from a press release issued by Hawk Kawasaki:

BSB Championship, Round 1
Silverstone
Qualifying

SMART QUALIFIES SIXTH FOR OPENING BSB ROUND

Hawk Kawasaki rider Scott Smart qualified in sixth place for the opening BSB round at an overcast Silverstone today. The number 88 rider set his 1:27.567 lap in the last five minutes of the day’s second qualifying session, which looked as though it might be rained off as threatening clouds moved in over the Northamptonshire circuit. Smart was also forced to use his second bike to set the time after his number one machine suffered technical problems.

“I’m pleased to be starting from the second row, especially after the
problems we’ve suffered throughout practice and qualifying, but it’s
a bit of a shame we couldn’t get the suspension set-up sorted on the
other bike because we’ve been struggling to find a good race set-up
all weekend,” said Smart. “To do the lap times we really have to
stick our necks out. That’s going to make it hard work tomorrow
because when the tyre’s not there the bike’s a real handful.
Obviously we’re working to sort that out, but at the moment we’re not
there. I’m hopeful we can make more progress before tomorrow’s race
though.”

His team mate, Glen Richards, suffered a more frustrating day. The
Aussie topped the times sheets for much of the first session, but was
dropped to third place after a crash ruled him out of the final 10
minutes. Richards was one of several riders caught out by an oil spill
at turn one, but fortunately he was uninjured an able to take part in
the afternoon’s final hour of qualifying.

The Hawk rider again looked to be running strongly until a crash at
Priory ended the number 75 rider’s session. His previous best time of
1:27.667 dropped Richards to ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

“We could have done without those two offs today,: said Hawk Kawasaki
Team Principal Stuart Hicken. “But nobody falls off on purpose.
Certainly Glen’s first one was down to someone else’s spillage, then
he tipped off again with just two or three minutes to go of the second
session. Unfortunately the bike bounced in the gravel, and that made a
load more work, but we can get that one up and running again for
tomorrow. The encouraging bit is that we’re not a million miles away
from the front row, which is quite nice, because the bikes are so stock
at the moment it’s ridiculous. They might look like race bikes at the
moment, but the engines are still very standard and there’s still a
lot to come from them. Hopefully tomorrow will be dry because we do
need laps on the bike. The more laps we get, the more we can get the
bike on the pace and that’s the important bit. If it stays dry we’ll
have a good setting from the chassis by the first race tomorrow, for
sure.”


Combined Qualifying
1) Michael Rutter, Honda, 1:26.135
2) Sean Emmett, Ducati, 1:26.679
3) John Reynolds, Suzuki, 1:26.937
4) Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, 1:27.274
5) Stuart Easton, Ducati, 1:27.431
6) Scott Smart, Hawk Kawasaki, 1:27.567
7) Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 1:27.593
8) Dean Thomas, Ducati, 1:27.632
9) Glen Richards, Hawk Kawasaki, 1:27.667
10) Steve Plater, Yamaha, 1:27.915
11) Gary Mason, Yamaha, 1:28.542
12) Jon Kirkham, Suzuki, 1:28.965 (P)
13) James Buckingham, Suzuki, 1:29.155 (P)
14) Dennis Hobbs, Suzuki, 1:29.185 (P)
15) Sam Corke, Suzuki, 1:29.296 (P)

(P) = Privateer