— Lowes takes Pole Datatag Extreme Qualifying: 1: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) 2m:05.724s 2: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.554s 3: PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +0.596s 4: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +1.046s 5: Jon Kirkham (Buildbase BMW) +1.176s 6: Peter Hickman (Lloyds British GBmoto Honda) +1.272s Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes scorched inside the Silverstone lap record to score his seventh pole position of the season ahead of the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship as he out-paced the battered and bruised series leader Shane Byrne. Byrne had suffered a huge high-side off his Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki at Luffield during the morning free practice session and the defending champion dramatically landed heavily on his right hip. Byrne had spent the majority of the afternoon receiving physio with the series’ medical team at the track before being given the go-ahead to take part in qualifying minutes before the start of the session. He was helped to his bike and then sensationally delivered a fast lap to secure an all-important front row start. “The bike just came round on me and flipped over the top and and I landed heavily on my side,” said Byrne. “I’m just relieved to have got out there for qualifying. I don’t know what I’ve done but it was not very comfortable. The medics did a lot of work to get me out there and I have to thank them for that as the time before qualifying has just disappeared!” Byrne takes a single point lead into these races over Samsung Honda riding Lowes who had worked hard across the day to perfect the settings of his bike. Lowes said: “It was a lot better in qualifying than it had been earlier when I was struggling a bit, but I enjoyed that session and we can do a bit more before the races which are when the real action starts. I think it will be close in the races tomorrow but hopefully not as close as Assen!” New Yorker PJ Jacobsen completed the front row, easing his title chasing Tyco Suzuki team-mate Josh Brookes onto the second row of the grid in fourth. Jon Kirkham and the Buildbase BMW team became the fourth manufacturer to feature in the top five ahead of Peter Hickman, having his best qualifying of the season, running sixth on the Lloyds British GBmoto Honda. But two other Title Fighters, James Westmoreland and James Ellison face uphill struggles in the opening race. Westmoreland starts his Buildbase BMW from the third row in ninth, but James Ellison who crashed his Milwaukee Yamaha without injury on his first flying lap in qualifying starts from the sixth row. — Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship qualifying Manxman Callan Cooper continued his late season pace to put his CF Yamaha on pole running 0.040secs up on Ben Godfrey aboard the BMC/Blinds4U Yamaha with title chasing Luke Hedger completing the front row on his Gearlink Kawasaki. Jordan Simpkin, the Team AHR GoRacing Yamaha, who leads the title chase by ten points from Hedger, starts from the second row, fourth fastest. — Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship qualifying Josh Wainwright powered his Be Wiser Kawasaki onto pole start with a lap in 2m 10.081secs, running a tenth of a second up on ILR Kawasaki riding Filip Backlund with Joe Burns third fastest on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki while series leading Hudson Kennaugh heads the second row, fourth fastest, and looking good to extending his three points advantage over Adam Jenkinson who starts from the fourth row, eleventh fastest. — Milwaukee Yamaha Report The Milwaukee Yamaha team ended the Datatag Extreme qualifying sessions today in a determined mood ahead of tomorrow’s races as James Ellison and Tommy Bridewell have vowed to fight back at Silverstone. Ellison had set the pace in the third free practice session and was confident for qualifying however a mistake on his first flying lap of Q2 caused him to crash out and he will start from the sixth row of the grid in eighteenth on the grid. Bridewell had made some further changes throughout the day and was feeling more comfortable as he again qualified for the Q3 session, ending eighth fastest. Ellison said: “I am gutted for the Milwaukee Yamaha team as I just lost the rear on my first lap. I felt I had the heat in my tyre and I just lost the rear; usually it just drifts for a while and then grips but it just carried on sliding and that was it. I obviously didn’t get enough heat in it but it has made me even more determined for the races tomorrow. It is a long lap here and a wide track and we know we can do the race pace times to win so we just need to try and get a good start to get away with the pack.” Bridewell said: “We have made some steps in the right direction today but we are a little bit behind because we went in the wrong direction a bit yesterday, but we have managed to get it back and make it better for qualifying. We have a few things to change tomorrow and I am feeling a lot happier and more comfortable on the bike here. Our race pace is good so we will see what we can do in the races.” — Lowes tops day one at Silverstone Free practice one: 1: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) 2m:25.509s 2: James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.657s 3: Josh Waters (Halsall Racing Kawasaki) +1.472s 4: Jakub Smrz (Padgetts Honda) +1.801s 5: PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) +1.975s 6: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +2.207s Free practice two: 1: Alex Lowes (Samsung Honda) 2m:08.651s 2: Shane Byrne (Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki) +0.251s 3: Josh Brookes (Tyco Suzuki) +0.261s 4: James Ellison (Milwaukee Yamaha) +0.437s 5: Jakub Smrz (Padgetts Honda) +0.895s 6: Matteo Baiocco (Rapido Sport Racing Ducati) +0.910s Alex Lowes waited until the final seconds to upstage his MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship rivals in a last lap dash to steal the top spot ahead of series leading Shane Byrne in free practice for the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Silverstone. The stage is set for the pair to resume their frantic battle for the crown after the previous round at Assen where Lowes took his seventh victory to close within a point of Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki rider Byrne before an incident in the second saw Byrne crash and Lowes excluded from the race. The pair are now ready to tussle for the two wins on Sunday with Byrne deciding to sport a racing helmet bearing the message: “Warning – objects ahead may be closer than they appear.” Lowes sat out the morning damp session, which was led by Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes, but put in a number of consistent laps aboard his Samsung Honda in the afternoon. “It was good, though still a bit damp in places and we got some good data together. The bike was good and I love this circuit so now I am looking forward confidently to the rest of the weekend. It was a case of getting out there, doing the job but not doing anything silly as there is a lot on the line in these last two rounds.” His best lap set in the final minute of the session just edged out Byrne, who said: “To be honest I really needed to ride in the morning as I had a brand new bike and it needed to go around the track so we just did a few laps in the wet because of that. The afternoon was really, really good. We have a couple of things that we need to work on but I am really happy.” Brookes showed his all-round skills setting the third best time this afternoon, ahead of fellow Title Fighter James Ellison aboard the Milwaukee Yamaha who had briefly led the afternoon session. Jakub Smrz riding the Padgetts Honda and Matteo Baiocco on the Moto Rapido Ducati rounded off the top six, ahead of Michael Rutter on the Bathams Honda and Peter Hickman riding the Lloyds British GBmoto Honda. — Milwaukee Yamaha Report The Milwaukee Yamaha team returned to action at Silverstone today for the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship with James Ellison and Tommy Bridewell ending the opening free practice sessions in fourth and thirteenth respectively. The opening morning session took place in wet conditions with Ellison proving his pace by running second fastest with Bridewell completing the top ten. However the conditions improved for the afternoon and Ellison fired in the fourth fastest time and is confident that some changes in the morning will put him in an even stronger position for qualifying. Bridewell set the thirteenth fastest time as he prepares for his second weekend with the Milwaukee Yamaha team and is ready to build on the opening two sessions. Ellison said: “It has been a good start to the weekend and we are not far off after today. We have been losing a bit of time in the first sector, but we have a bit of a plan for that as we know we have a good pace here at the MotoGP support race so we have been able to try a few things. We have been working on the steering because that in the first sector will be where we can make up some more time and I have been happy on the SC2 rear tyre. We have some information from when we were here before so we have been able to go a bit in between in terms of direction, but we have ended today fairly happy and on track for where we need to be tomorrow.” Bridewell said: “Today was difficult with the conditions and I am a bit far away from where I feel comfortable, but we have had a good talk through it in the garage and we have a plan for tomorrow to make some changes. At the start of the session this afternoon I felt better but as the conditions improved I just struggled to match the pace we needed to achieve, but generally it is ok and we shouldn’t be here for very long!” — Josh Waters to round out BSB season with Kawasaki — By Trevor Hedge After being ousted from the Milwaukee Yamaha squad Mildura born rider Joshua Waters put in an impressive showing with BMW at the Le Mans 24 Hour and has now been picked up by the Halsall Racing Kawasaki squad for the remainder of the 2013 BSB Season. The seat at Halsall had been vacated when Tommy Bridewell left the squad to take up Waters’ position in the Milwaukee Yamaha squad. Thus the pair have effectively now swapped teams. The two-time Australian Superbike Champion had experienced his home grown success onboard a Suzuki GSX-R1000, and never adapted to the vastly different feeling YZF-R1 fielded by the Milwaukee Yamaha squad. Fingers crossed Waters finds the Kawasaki much more to his liking. The 2013 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season continues next weekend at Silverstone, before moving on to the series triple-header finale at Brands Hatch on October 20. — Current British Superbike Standings 1 Shane Byrne Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki 559 2 Alex Lowes Samsung Honda 558 3 James Ellison Milwaukee Yamaha 538 4 Josh Brookes Tyco Suzuki 535 5 Ryuichi Kiyonari Samsung Honda 522 6 James Westmoreland Buildbase BMW 519 7 Jon Kirkham Buildbase BMW 174 8 PJ Jacobsen Tyco Suzuki 144 9 Tommy Bridewell Milwaukee Yamaha 142 10 Chris Walker Quattro Plant Kawasaki 133
