Michael Laverty proved that his Scottish form at Knockhill a fortnight ago was no ‘flash in the pan’ performance, after taking a front row start for tomorrow’s opening British Superbike race, during round six at Brands Hatch on the GP circuit.
Laverty who topped the second Free Practice session, before taking third place in qualifying at the Kent venue, said afterwards: “It’s been a good weekend right from the first session. We’ve got a pretty good race pace and while I couldn’t quite match the front two in Q3, we are up on the front row. I believe we can take the fight to them tomorrow as we have a good race strategy on the Tyco BMW.”
Tommy Bridewell will start BSB race one from row four tomorrow in P11 and in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000cc class, Tyco BMW mounted Alastair Seeley will start on the front row in P2.
Team Manager Philip Neill said: “Michael has come out fighting this weekend and a front row start is just what we all needed. Tommy’s grid position for race one does not reflect his effort or pace and we fully expect to see him push through to the sharp end in the early laps on his BMW Motorrad S1000RR. Alastair is right up there as always in the Superstock 1000 class and he knows exactly what is required this weekend.”
Seeley’s 16-lap Superstock 1000cc race will take place at 12.35pm, with the two premier class BSB races over 20-laps at 1.30pm and 4.30pm.
British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch, Extreme Qualifying:
- Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) 1m:25.331s
- Josh Brookes (Yamaha) +0.001s
- Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.385s
- Richard Cooper (Kawasaki) +0.538s
- Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +0.617s
- James Ellison (Kawasaki) +0.651s
- Broc Parkes (Yamaha) +0.807s
- Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW) +0.817s
- John Hopkins (Ducati) +0.848s
- Luke Mossey (Kawasaki) +0.903s
- Tommy Bridewell [Tyco BMW] Q2 session 1m:26.237s