John Hopkins raced to the second-fastest time in today's British Superbike Championship qualifying at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, placing him on the front row for tomorrow's penultimate round as his Samsung Crescent Racing Suzuki team-mate Jon Kirkham qualified sixth fastest and will start from the second row.

Hopkins, who holds the lead in the Championship on his GSX-R100 Suzuki, rode a conservative practice and qualifying as a damage-limitation on his injured hand - incurred at the Brno MotoGP - saving his strength for tomorrow's races. Despite this, Hopkins set the fastest time in the two practice sessions and only dipped-out on setting Pole Position by the slightest of margin of 0.077-seconds.

Kirkham continued to enjoy his return to form, and after another productive practice, he cut his personal-best lap times by over a second to post sixth-fastest time.

John Hopkins:

"Everything is going very well considering I've two plates and six screws wedged into my finger. It's very sore, so I've kept my track time to a minimum, but I'm confident it'll be fine for the races - as at Donington Park, the adrenaline will kick in and take care of those.

"I'm lucky we had such a good setting to work from, as, after the WSB races earlier this year, we've been able to work from there and I know we have a good race-setting to go with. Tomorrow it'll be a case of getting a clean start and staying at the front. Bring home the points."

Jon Kirkham:

"I'm really pleased with how practice and qualifying have gone. We've got a much-better set-up for me this time around. I could probably have gone a bit quicker again, but I had a scare in the final qualifying when I had two big slides. The track was cooling at that time and that may have contributed to the slides, but I definitely feel there's more to come and I'll be pushing for top-five finishes again tomorrow."

Jack Valentine - Team Manager:

"I'm very happy with progress. Hopper is being very careful about his hand and yet he's still been able to post fastest times! He's already shown what he can do around here, so we're in known territory: It's just a matter of staying focused, not taking anything for granted and being ready when the attacks come. But most certainly, Hopper is in the best possible position going into tomorrow's racing.

"JK's put in yet another very impressive weekend. Last time here he wasn't too happy and although he scored World Championship points, he felt he could go better. Well, he's going much better this time around, he's over a second faster; and far more confident in his bike and his abilities. I think he's looking very settled and he should be good for top-five tomorrow. All in all, we're in good shape."

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship:

1 Michael Laverty (Swan Yamaha) 2m: 05.056s
2 John Hopkins (Samsung Crescent Racing) +0.077s
3 Josh Brookes (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) +0.455s
4 Michael Rutter (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +0.475s
5 Tommy Hill (Swan Yamaha) +0.588s
6 Jon Kirkham (Samsung Crescent Racing) +1.168s
7 Martin Jessopp (Rapid Solicitors-Bathams Ducati) +1.169s
8 Peter Hickman (Tyco Honda) +1.305s
9 Graeme Gowland (WFR Honda) +1.452s
10 Dan Linfoot (Tyco Honda) +1.679s

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