Swan Yamaha's Tommy Hill claimed pole position for the opening MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Brands Hatch after a sensational lap put him ahead of title rival John Hopkins on the Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki despite a last lap attempt from the American.

Hill said:

"It a busy weekend and there isn't a lot of time but it feels great to be on pole position for the first race. We have the Swan Yamaha working well and we know we need to try and win the races this weekend starting this afternoon. We know the position in the Showdown isn't safe so we need to be up there fighting for wins so we can secure our place come the end of this weekend. It's not going to be easy but we are ready for the race now."

Michael Laverty was the fastest rider on track in the opening qualifying session for the Swan Yamaha team despite several riders having a spell at the top of the times. Shane 'Shakey' Byrne took the initial advantage on the HM Plant Honda before James Westmoreland stole the position just a lap later. Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati then went fastest with Michael Rutter before Laverty lapped in a time of 1:25.976s to put himself at the top of the times when the session ended. It was a close opening session with just one second covering the top 16 riders ahead of Q2. Hopkins ended the first qualifying session in second ahead of Broc Parkes who fired the Kawasaki WSB up the order in the final five minutes to move ahead of Rutter, Hill and Byrne.

In the second qualifying session Hill powered ahead to lead the majority of the session from Rutter who had put in a better final lap to move second on the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati to push Laverty back to third with Hopkins in fourth. Qualifying two ended disappointingly for HM Plant Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari who finished eighteenth, whilst Broc Parkes also was unable to make it through, just missing out in the closing seconds in eleventh.

The final Q3 was a frantic affair with Hill putting in an early lap to go fastest, with Hopkins leaving it late to move second on the Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki. He did attempt a last lap bid for pole but it wasn't enough and he will start second ahead of Laverty and Joan Lascorz who completes the front row.

Standings leader Shane 'Shakey' Byrne will head row two in fifth ahead of the Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati pairing of Martin Jessopp and Michael Rutter respectively with Westmoreland completing he front row. Gary Mason will start ninth for race one and Graeme Gowland again had an impressive performance in tenth.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Brands Hatch GP, qualifying result:

Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) 1m:25.357s
John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki) +0.047s
Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) +0.244s
Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki WSB) +0.470s
Shane Byrne (HM Plant Honda) +0.579s
Martin Jessopp (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.630s
Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.823s
James Westmoreland (Motorpoint Yamaha) +0.851s
Gary Mason (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) +1.128s
Graeme Gowland (WFR Honda) +1.326s