Cadwell BSB: Haslam blasts to pole with fastest ever lap

Qualifying three
Leon Haslam 1’25.923
Shane Byrne 1’26.159
Richard Cooper 1’26.162

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam has set the fastest ever MCE British Superbike lap around Cadwell Park during qualifying, and propelled his ZX-10R to pole position with a 1’25.923.

The former World Superbike star, is the first rider to lap a sub 1’26 and did it in style at the Lincolnshire track this afternoon. He was able to surpass Byrne’s outright record from 2014 by one tenth of a second.

But the Be Wiser Ducati racer will still start on the front row as he set a 1’26.159 which placed him P2. It was also an impressive session for the Buildbase BMW S1000RR of Richard Cooper who bagged his first front row start of the year after a super quick 1’26.162.

Cooper was not the only Buildbase backed BMW who shone out on track, as local lad, Lee Jackson missed out on what would have been his debut front row start by 0.1s to his team-mate, but will start race one tomorrow from fourth on the grid.

The youngster will be joined by locally based, Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran and Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey. The sole Bennetts Suzuki machine of Tommy Bridewell heads row three, alongside JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison and Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot.

The Yorkshireman’s team were in a race against time to get his Fireblade out on track, after an earlier Q2 crash, but they worked hard and Linfoot was able to complete a handful of laps to start from ninth on Monday.

Qualifying two

Shane Byrne 1’26.320
Leon Haslam 1’26.411
Tommy Bridewell 1’26.417

Byrne lapped a 1’26.320 to go into the provisional pole position spot followed by Haslam and Bridewell. There were a few fallers in Q2, which included Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon, who crashed unhurt at Charlies and the yellow flags came out briefly.

FS-3 Kawasaki’s Billy McConnell took a tumble at the bottom of the mountain, whereas Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot crashed at the top of the mountain with only one minute left to the session.

It was a nervous final few seconds for Linfoot as he had to wait to see if he would make it through to Q3, as Hickman and Irwin were still out on track and were on hot laps. But in the end neither of them were able to go faster than the Fireblade rider, and Linfoot held on to a place in the top nine by the skin of his teeth.

Local rider, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Peter Hickman missed out on a chance to battle for pole by 0.65s. Irwin, Dixon, Seeley and Hopkins also failed to make it out of the elimination spots.

Iddon was not the only Tyco BMW rider to miss out, as his team-mate Michael Laverty also failed to set a time that placed him in Q3. Returning Tsingtao Kawasaki rider, Danny Buchan ended Q2 in sixteenth.

Qualifying one

Leon Haslam 1’26.682
Tommy Bridewell 1’26.749
Shane Byrne 1’26.771

It was Haslam who was the first rider to throw down the gauntlet during the opening qualifying session and set the pace with a 1’26.682. Bridewell was another rider who was up the sharp end and went P2 with a 1’26.749, with Byrne completing the provisional front row.

Martin Jessopp missed out on a spot in Q2 by only 0.345 and he was unable to better the time set by Seeley. The BMW rider was joined in the drop zone by Moto Rapido Ducati’s newest recruit, Stuart Easton who will start race one 22nd on the grid.

ePayMe Yamaha’s stand-in rider, Howie Mainwaring also did not make it out of the top eighteen along with Smiths Racing’s Jakub Smrz. Team WD-40’S Jack Kennedy did not have the best of sessions, as his chain came off his ZX-10R at the beginning of Q1 and was unable to challenge for a chance to progress into Q2. Backlund, Hook, Wainwright, Zanotti, Iannuzzo and Winfield also failed to make it inside the top eighteen on the timing screens.