Westmoreland Claims BMW’s First-Ever British Superbike Pole Position, At Donington Park

Westmoreland Claims BMW’s First-Ever British Superbike Pole Position, At Donington Park

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American PJ Jacobsen was eighth-fastest on his Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 during MCE British Superbike qualifying at Donington Park.

American Tommy Aquino qualified 20th on his Team WD-40 Kawasaki ZX-10R in British 1000cc Superstock.

American Jayson Uribe qualified 24th overall and 17th in the 125cc class on his Rock and Sons Racing Honda RS125 in British Motostar.

American Michael Corbino finished 16th in Triumph Triple Challenge Race One.

More, from a press release issued by MotorSport Vision:

Round 9 Donington Park 7-8 September WESTMORELAND SECURES HISTORIC POLE POSITION FOR BMW Results Datatag Extreme Qualifying: 1: James Westmoreland (Buildbase BMW) 1m:29.726s 2: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) +0.271s 3: James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.312s 4: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.445s 5: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.485s 6: Tommy Bridewell (Halsall Racing Kawasaki) +0.634s Report

James Westmoreland boosted his hopes of qualifying for the Showdown as he scorched to his, and Buildbase BMW’s, maiden pole position ahead of the ninth round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Donington Park. The historic milestone was the first time in Championship history that the German manufacturer has claimed an outright pole position.

The Yorkshireman starts the races in seventh place in the overall standings, five points down on his team-mate Jon Kirkham, and needs to be in the all-important top six to make the cut for the title deciding sequence of seven races which begins at the next round at Assen, Holland.

Westmoreland powered in a stunning time of 1m 29.726s around the Leicestershire circuit to top the qualifying timesheets but did not realise how strong his performance was, he explained: “My lap timer wasn’t working on the bike so I just went as fast as I could.

“I did enough with that very good lap but now I have to keep it going as I want to be in the top six by the end of this round. I need podium finishes and will push as hard as I can in the races. I’ll get a good night’s sleep and then come out fighting and show what we can do,” he added.

Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes who has already qualified for the Showdown, set the second best time ahead of Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison who should rack up the seven points needed in the Donington Park races to make the cut.

Series leading, three times champion Shane Byrne starts his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki from the second row of the grid in fourth ahead of fellow confirmed Title Fighter Josh Brookes. The Australian’s qualifying performance for Tyco Suzuki meant that five different manufacturers from five different teams feature in the first five race one grid positions. Halsall Racing Kawasaki’s Tommy Bridewell is still hunting a Showdown position and he will start sixth fastest, completing the second row despite a tumble in the final qualifying session after his incredible podium finish last time out at Cadwell Park.

Kirkham meanwhile faces an uphill struggle to fight off team-mate Westmoreland as he starts from the third row of the grid, while three times former title winner Ryuichi Kiyonari, also scrapping for a place in the Showdown starts his Samsung Honda from the fourth row. For more information please visit www.britishsuperbike.com

More, from a press release issued by Milwaukee Yamaha:

FRONT ROW START FOR MILWAUKEE YAMAHA AT DONINGTON PARK Milwaukee Yamaha will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s opening race at round nine of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Donington Park as James Ellison put himself in the best position to secure his position in the Showdown. The team were greeted with better conditions at the circuit today and with the dry track time Ellison continued pushing ahead and was able to qualify third to complete the opening row of the grid. Ellison needs just seven points to secure his position in the Showdown tomorrow and is determined to achieve his goal in the opening race. On the other side of the garage Josh Waters continued to make improvements as he narrowly missed out a position in Q3, starting eleventh on the grid. Ellison said: “We needed to be on the front row here this weekend and now we need to get a good start in the race so we can try and get to the front at the beginning because there are so many riders who are also fighting for the Showdown position. We only need seven points to claim the place in the Showdown but we knew that there would be some more riders in the mix this weekend; certainly tomorrow I expect eight to ten riders to be up there having a massive fight at the front. It was vital to have the qualifying session we did because the battle for those race wins tomorrow are sure to go down to the wire.” Waters said: “It was nice to get back out on a dry track today and we have made some improvements and have gone faster which was the important thing. We have had a look at the data and the boys in the garage have some ideas for warm up and I will also sleep on it to see what I can find for the morning. Everyone is improving all the time so we need to do the same and it was unfortunate that we just missed out on Q3 because I made mistakes on my best laps. The Milwaukee Yamaha team have been working hard and I am looking forward to the races tomorrow.” For more information visit www.milwaukeeyamaha.com

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