Josh Brookes continued his reign at the top of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship by claiming pole position for the opening race at Thruxton, holding off a hard-charging John Hopkins by 0.212s. The pair are ready to capitalise as standings leader Shane 'Shakey' Byrne had a disastrous Datatag Qualifying session and will start 17th for race one.

Brookes had been pushing throughout qualifying, but in Q2 Hopkins laid down the marker, proving he was going to fight all the way to the finish for the pole position at the Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati team's home round. The Australian and American riders went head-to-head in the final moments of the final session, but the Milwaukee Yamaha rider had the edge to claim his second pole position of the season.

The top three was completed by MCE BSB rookie Luke Mossey who excelled in qualifying to secure his debut start on the front row for Quattro Plant Kawasaki. The trio had held off Dan Linfoot, who became the only Honda Racing in qualifying after team-mate Jason O'Halloran crashed out at Noble in Q2, sustaining a broken right femur.

James Ellison was the leading JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider in fifth to start from the second row alongside Peter Hickman on the RAF Reserves BMW in a top ten that featured six different manufacturers.

Christian Iddon will head row three for the Bennetts Suzuki team ahead of Richard Cooper on the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki as Danny Buchan and Howie Mainwaring completed the top ten.

The Thruxton Datatag Qualifying session will give some of the leading contenders some hard work to do tomorrow as Tommy Bridewell starts 11th, Byrne on the PBM Kawasaki in 17th, Michael Laverty in 20th and Ryuichi Kiyonari in 22nd position.  

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Thruxton, Datatag Qualifying:

Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) 1m:14.464s
John Hopkins (Lloyds British Moto Rapido Ducati) +0.212s
Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +0.435s
Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.517s
James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.634s
Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW) +0.766s
Christian Iddon (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.826s
Richard Cooper (Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki) +0.928s
Danny Buchan (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +1.118s
Howie Mainwaring (Quattro Plant Kawasaki)

Pic by Double Red