|
Donnington Park pole for Airwaves Ducati |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 25 May 2008 |
Shane Byrne secured his 3rd pole position of the season at a very wet Donington Park today. Leon Camier will start on the second row in 8th place.
Following a dry practice this morning the conditions quickly changed ahead of qualifying. Shane, who had appeared to have secured pole position early on, sat out for much of the session, only returning to the track with 8 minutes of qualifying left when he had been knocked off the top spot. He then regained pole position with a time of 1:46.639 on his final lap of the day. Leon completed 22 laps in the wet conditions with his fastest time of 1:40.023 also coming on his final lap.
Leon was disappointed not to have gone faster having pushed hard throughout the session. “I am not too happy with my performance this afternoon as I know I could have gone a lot quicker than I did. I struggled with traffic again and just could not seem to get any decent clear laps in. It is a shame as the wet settings on the Airwaves Ducati were feeling good and I know I could have gone quicker. I am not too worried; if I can get a good start and remain consistent tomorrow I am confident I can secure a good result.”
Shane was pleased with his result despite the weather. “On my first couple of laps this afternoon I was really tempted to pull into the garage and just hold fire as the conditions were ridiculous. I decided I couldn’t give up before I properly tried though. Once I thought I had secured pole position I came in with about 20 minutes of the session to go. I decided to sit it out and see if anybody would go faster which, towards the end, my good friend Michael Rutter did. When I went back out the conditions had improved and the few changes my mechanics had made meant the bike felt even better and fortunately I was able to retake pole. It was a good job by the Airwaves Ducati team today; I hope I am able to do them proud tomorrow.”
Round 4 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship starts tomorrow with race one commencing at 13.00pm followed by race two at 15.30pm.
Qualifying Result
1) Shane Byrne – Airwaves Ducati 1:46.639
2) James Ellison – Hydrex Bike Animal Honda 1:47.687
3) Michael Rutter – North West 200 Ducati 1:48.101
4) Cal Crutchlow – HM Plant Honda 1:48.265
5) Michael Laverty – Relentless Suzuki by TAS 1:48.267
6) Scott Smart – Hawk Racing 1:48.609
7) Leon Haslam – HM Plant Honda 1:48.829
8) Leon Camier – Airwaves Ducati 1:49.023
|
