Kent’s Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne will line-up on the front row of the grid for the opening race of the MCE British Superbike Championship from Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday. 

Byrne who has been quickest all weekend, was pipped to pole position by Leon Haslam, who had to break his own lap record to stop the man from Sittingbourne taking top spot.

Riding the factory-backed Be Wiser Ducati Panigale R for the Penrith-based PBM team, the four-times champion had topped the overall timesheets after the three Free Practice sessions to give him an advantage of 0.337s over championship rival  Haslam.

Lapping underneath the existing lap record put Byrne in a confident mood going into afternoon qualifying and he immediately went third quickest in the opening Q1 session. Going quicker still in Q2, the Sittingbourne rider’s time of 1m 26.320s, on just his third lap, put him in the ideal position going into the final eight minute Q3 session.

There then followed a rapid few minutes of action around the 2.18-mile circuit and the leading times were extremely close as just 0.286s covered the first four riders. It was Haslam who was quickest but on his last lap, Shakey recorded a time of 1m 26.159s to jump from fourth to second and claim the middle spot on the front row of the grid.

Speaking after qualifying, a confident Byrne said: “Cadwell Park is a difficult track, it’s tricky and the most important thing here is to be on the front row. I’ve been changing the bike after each practice session to try and get a better balance and did so again just before Q3.

“My first lap was OK, the second one a bit better again but after dropping to P4, I regrouped and had one last push on the final lap. It got me onto the front row which is the most important thing. The team have done a great job again and I’m happy with where I’m starting for tomorrow’s first race.”

Image courtesy of www.psp-images.co.uk