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***Malcolm*** · 01-10-2016, 05:09 PM

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne topped all 3 qualifying session at the TT Circuit Assen today, setting a new lap-record and claiming his 50th career pole.

His lap of 1:35.724 was half a second clear of the opposition and will see the Be Wiser PBM Ducati Team start from the front of the British Superbike grid in tomorrow’s first race at the Netherlands circuit.

Had it been the WorldSBK grid and not BSB, Shakey’s time onboard his Ducati Panigale R would have been good enough to place him on the front row in 2nd place.

Shakey Byrne - Be Wiser PBM Ducati Team

“You could see people sitting in the middle of the track and waiting for tows but I just wanted to do my own lap, my own clear thing and know exactly where I was. In the end I did a 2nd lap and got some traffic towards the end of the lap, but fortunately it panned out and was a half sensible lap. I’m happy with the bike, we’ve made some progress since yesterday in the dry now we just need to wait and see what the track conditions are tomorrow and then we can take a view on what we need to do.

As a professional rider you do your very best to keep out of everybody’s way and it just seems that sometimes it’s a not a quality that’s shared by other people. But it’s racing. It seems a bit strange that 8 or 9 people can be out on a track and there can still be traffic and people sat around.
But we’ve done our job. Pole position for the Be Wiser PBM Ducati Team and I’m happy with that. Just need to try and wrap it up tomorrow now and see how we get on then.”

***Malcolm*** · 01-10-2016, 05:19 PM

Shane 'Shakey' Byrne set the fastest ever MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship lap of Assen to claim his 50th pole position, firing the Be Wiser Ducati ahead of the JG Speedfit Kawasaki duo of James Ellison and Leon Haslam ahead of tomorrow’s two races.

Christian Iddon had been one of the first riders to set a time, but the Tyco BMW rider headed into the gravel before rejoining and trying to improve, but with an incredibly tight pack and the top seven riders under the existing lap record, he will start ninth on the grid.

Byrne then moved to the top of the times as Ellison hunted him down, but the championship leader continued to up the pace and then fired in an incredible lap that kept his rivals at bay. Ellison was also coming under attack from his team-mate Haslam, but at the chequered flag it was enough to hold the advantage.

Luke Mossey heads the second row for Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki; saving his best run until the end of the Q3 session due to a threatening rain shower, to hold off the Honda Racing pairing of Jason O'Halloran and Dan Linfoot.

Linfoot was pushing to move ahead and he crashed out of the session unhurt, however he still held on to the second row start ahead of Richard Cooper and Broc Parkes for the ePayMe Yamaha team.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Assen, Qualifying result:

1: Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) 1m:35.724s
2: James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.589s
3: Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.624s
4: Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +0.627s
5: Jason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.637s
6: Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.889s
7: Richard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +1.079s
8: Broc Parkes (ePayMe Yamaha) +1.268s
9: Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) 1.311s

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