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Stobart
Vent Axia VK Motorsport riders Tom Sykes and Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne
will start tomorrow’s final two rounds of the Bennetts British
Superbike Championship from the front row following today’s
qualifying session at Brands Hatch in Kent.
For the
first time this season with both riders on row one, 21 year old
Sykes and 30 year old Byrne held first and second positions for much
of the 50 minute session as the top riders fought it out around the
tight Indy circuit but despite putting laps in underneath the lap
record, Yorkshireman Sykes had to settle for second place on the
grid with Zurich residing Londoner Byrne in fourth.
The
result of qualifying means that both riders are well placed to
continue their great form this season as Sykes goes in search of his
first victory following on five podiums in the last six races and
Byrne, fresh from a podium finish at Donington last time out will be
looking to add another win at his local circuit, to the one he
scored at Mallory.
Tom
Sykes: “We had a fairly
steady start to the weekend, but we’ve built up and we changed a lot
of things for the final free practice which set us up perfectly for
qualifying. It’s
another front row start which is much needed around this circuit,
I’m happy with my race set up, and I’ve got a really good Dunlop
tyre. I’m looking
forward to tomorrow and hope to get some good results to round off
an absolutely fantastic year for which I cannot thank Paul Bird and
the boys enough.”
Shane
Byrne: “I’m quite happy
with that. I was a bit
unlucky with the second qualifier not to go any quicker as it took
me a while to get past Leon Haslam and by then the qualifier was
finished. At the end of
the day it’s a front row start but I did it on the spare bike
because we had a problem, so the boys have done a great job again
for me, as have Dunlop tyres.”
Paul
Bird: “I’m
ecstatic. It’s as good
as a win having them both on the front row. We’ve got a lot of guests
here from Vent Axia so it’s brilliant, especially with Shakey doing
it on his spare bike.
We had a plan and it all came to fruition and well done to
the boys. I’m sure
they’ll be in the mix tomorrow, it just keeps getting better and
better.”
The
first of the Bennetts British Superbike races gets underway at 12.00
with the second one screened live on ITV1 at 14.50.
Qualifying
1, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) 45.190s, 2, Tom Sykes (Stobart Vent Axia
Motorsport Honda) 45.381s, 3, Jonathan Rea (Honda) 45.383s, 4, Shane Byrne (Stobart Vent
Axia Motorsport Honda) 45.384s, 5, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda)
45.385s, 6, Cal Crutchlow (Suzuki) 45.450s, 7, Leon Haslam (Ducati)
45.484s, 8, Karl Harris (Honda) 45.564s, 9, James Haydon (Kawasaki)
45.970s, 10, Ian Hutchinson (Honda) 46.074s.
Sunday 14th October
10.00 – 10.15
Warm Up
12.00
Race 1 - 30 laps
14.50
Race 2 - 30 laps
ITV1 Broadcast: 14.00 –
15.30
ITV4 Broadcast: 17.00 –
18.00
Sky Sports Xtra: 19.30 -
23.00
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