Defending champion Tommy Hill will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow's opening race as the Swan Yamaha rider prepares to try and extend his lead in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Assen.

Hill had been working hard on chassis and gearing settings and bounced back from yesterday's crash to be in contention for the pole position. In qualifying Hill set a time to put him fourth on the grid before a light rain shower ended his chances of pushing Alex Lowes for the first pole position at the circuit. Noriyuki Haga will start from the fourth row of the grid in fourteenth position.

Hill said:

"Every time we have gone out here this weekend we have been making chassis and gearing changes and it is a different feeling here with the bike compared to some of the previous circuits we have raced on. To be honest with the changing conditions I was pretty shocked to have done the time that I did. We have been working with the different tyre options and we had a good pace but the changeable conditions just meant we couldn't push that little bit extra today. We had some in reserve and we want to have a strong race tomorrow."

Haga said:

"I am confident on this circuit but today we did not get the right timing to go out on circuit; when we did the rain came and we couldn't push. I also made a mistake by using the same tyre at the start of the session, but tomorrow will be ok for us. We just need to have a good race now."

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