Shane Byrne takes Assen BSB Pole

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.

Billy McConnell qualified 17th while countryman Josh Hook will start from 22nd on the grid.

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

BSB 2016 - Assen - Qualifying Results — BSB 2016 – Assen – Qualifying Results

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.”

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Supersport

Mason Law has claimed his second ever Dickies British Supersport victory, after converting his pole position into a dominating victory. Crossing the line at the end of the opening lap in the lead, Law continued to extend his gap over the pursuing pack to eventually take the chequered flag by 2.135s. It was an action packed race behind however as Andrew Irwin, David Allingham, Bradley Ray, Tarran Mackenzie and wildcard rider Eemeli Lahti all took turns holding rostrum positions. Eventually it was Allingham who claimed second, with Lahti third.

James Westmoreland finished fourth and having set the fastest lap will start from pole in tomorrow’s feature race. Mackenzie eventually finished in fifth having come from 17th on the grid, meaning his lead in the standings is now just six points.