Byrne Crushes Lap Record, Takes 50th BSB Pole Position, At Assen

Byrne Crushes Lap Record, Takes 50th BSB Pole Position, At Assen

© 2016, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MCE British Superbike Championship

TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands

October 1, 2016

Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):

From Superpole Knockout Session Three:

1. Shane Byrne, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:35.724

2. James Ellison, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.313

3. Leon Haslam, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.348

4. Luke Mossey, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:36.351

5. Jason O’Halloran, Australia (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:36.361

6. Dan Linfoot, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:36.613

7. Richard Cooper, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:36.803

8. Broc Parkes, Australia (Yam YZF-R1), 1:36.992

9. Christian Iddon, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.035

From Superpole Knockout Session Two:

10. Michael Laverty, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:36.988

11. John Hopkins, USA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.131

12. Glenn Irwin, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.142

13. Tommy Bridewell, UK (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:37.279

14. Vittorio Iannuzzo, Italy (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:37.486

15. Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.783

16. Martin Jessopp, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.818

17. Billy McConnell, Australia (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:37.841

18. Lee Jackson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.864

From Superpole Knockout Session One:

19. James Rispoli, USA (Yam YZF-R1), 1:38.370

20. Peter Hickman, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.613

21. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Japan (BMW S1000RR), 1:38.666

22. Josh Hook, Australia (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:38.823

23. Alex Polita, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:38.995

24. Alastair Seeley, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:39.175

25. Filip Backlund, Sweden (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:39.690

26. Ian Hutchinson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:39.701

27. Aaron Zanotti, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:40.186

28. Jenny Tinmouth, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:40.589

29. Josh Wainwright, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:41.367

30. Shaun Winfield, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:41.378

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

Shakey shatters lap record to claim his 50th MCE BSB pole position at Assen

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne set the fastest ever MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship lap of Assen to claim the 50th pole position of his career, firing the Be Wiser Ducati ahead of the JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo of James Ellison and Leon Haslam ahead of tomorrow’s two crucial races.

Christian Iddon had been one of the first riders to set a time, but the Tyco BMW rider then headed into the gravel before rejoining and trying to improve, but with an incredibly tight pack and the top seven riders under the existing lap record, he will start ninth on the grid.

Byrne then moved to the top of the times as Ellison hunted him down, but the championship leader continued to up the pace and then fired in an incredible lap that kept his rivals at bay. Ellison was also coming under attack from his team-mate Haslam, but at the chequered flag it was enough to hold the narrow advantage.

Luke Mossey heads the second row for Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki; the Cambridge-based rider saving his best run until the end of the Q3 session due to a threatening rain shower, to hold off the Honda Racing pairing of Jason O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot.

Linfoot was pushing to move ahead and he crashed out of the final session unhurt, however he still held onto the second row start ahead of Richard Cooper and Broc Parkes for the ePayMe Yamaha team.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Assen, Qualifying result:

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:35.724s

James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.589s

Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.624s

Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.627s

Jason O’Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.637s

Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.889s

Richard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +1.079s

Broc Parkes (ePayMe Yamaha) +1.268s

Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) 1.311s

For more information visit www.britishsuperbike.com

Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati)

Championship leader and pole position rider

“I was happy with that lap and to have a 50th pole position in the championship – that’s not a bad number at all! Yesterday we did struggle a bit with the feeling, at the start of the season we would go to a circuit and it wouldn’t matter if we turned the bike upside down or inside out, back to front, we would struggle to get the feeling from the bike. Back in those early races that would put us back in tenth or twelfth or something else.

“Yesterday the feeling was the same as that, but it showed the progress we have made since then especially as this is such an important part of the season. The team worked hard to make changes and now it works much better and I felt much more confident this afternoon, now we need to see what we can do tomorrow.”

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

Byrne Rocks The Cathedral

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne will start tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike Championship race at Assen from pole position after a dominant performance around the Dutch circuit on the Be Wiser Insurance Ducati Panigale R this afternoon saw him set the fastest ever BSB lap.

Having ended the three free practice sessions in second place overall behind Christian Iddon, the four-times champion was in confident mood heading into the Datatag Extreme Qualifying at the legendary ‘Cathedral of Speed’ and he immediately topped the timesheets in Q1 with a lap of 1m 36.829s.

However, he was only getting warmed up for Paul Bird’s Penrith-based team and Q2 saw him improve to 1m 36.068s which again made him quickest but he saved the best until last and a stunning time of 1m 35.724s gave him his 50th pole position of his illustrious BSB career. The fastest ever BSB time around Assen saw the Sittingbourne ace well over half a second clear of second placed James Ellison with main championship rival Leon Haslam in third.

Team-mate Glenn Irwin, having his first outing at the 2.82-mile circuit on a Superbike, ended free practice in 13th overall aboard his factory-backed Be Wiser Insurance Ducati Panigale R but a change in set-up saw him struggle in Q1 and, lapping slower than what he had done yesterday, he only just made it through to Q2 with the 17th fastest time.

The team quickly changed the bike back to its previous settings and in Q2, the Carrickfergus rider was able to show his true form and, lapping a second quicker than what he had done all weekend, he ended qualifying as 12th quickest which will put him on the fourth row for tomorrow’s opening 18-lap race.

Shane Byrne: “I really struggled to get a good feel for the bike on Friday but we made some good improvements with the bike between free practice yesterday and qualifying today and the PBM Be Wiser Insurance Ducati is working really well around Assen. During qualifying, it was quite difficult to get clear track as a lot of riders seemed to be hanging around, waiting for a tow but I just wanted to do my own thing and concentrate on hitting all my apexes. I had to abort a couple of laps but found a gap in the traffic and put together a decent lap so I’m happy enough with pole today and to make it 50 in total is pretty good going.”

Glenn Irwin: “It was a bit of a panic during qualifying as we made some changes to the settings on the bike and we went the wrong way so Q1 was a bit of a scratchy affair. We changed back to Friday’s Glenn Irwinsettings for Q2 and my lap time was only three tenths of a second off the lap record but such is the competition this year that was only good enough for 12th. I’m happy enough though and now we know the direction to go in with the set up, I think we can make further improvements for tomorrow.”

Phil Borley, Team Co-ordinator: “It was a superb performance from Shakey today and although he was second quickest on Friday, he wasn’t getting the feel he wanted from the bike so his team worked hard on the set-up and he was clearly a lot happier today. He tried both the hard and soft tyres too and has good race pace so we’re quietly confident about our chances in tomorrow’s races. Glenn made some changes for qualifying that clearly didn’t work and he only just scraped through to Q2 but the team did a great job in getting the bike back to Friday’s set up and Glenn now knows what works and what doesn’t so with a few more changes we’re hopeful of two top ten finishes from him.”

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