O'Halloran claims first pole position of the year at Silverstone

Jason O'Halloran ignited his hopes of a strong opening race in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Silverstone this afternoon by claiming Honda Racing’s first pole position of the season, pipping Jake Dixon and James Ellison to the top spot.

It was a dramatic Datatag Qualifying session at Silverstone and Showdown six contenders Shane 'Shakey' Byrne, Luke Mossey and Christian Iddon missed out on the final Q3 session. Defending champion Byrne was knocked out in the final moments of Q2, he starts tenth ahead of Mossey in 13th and Iddon in 14th.

O’Halloran was on a charge and he stormed to the top of the times for Honda Racing, just 0.177s ahead of Dixon with Ellison completing the front row for race one. Ellison’s last lap improvement for McAMS Yamaha pushed Josh Brookes back onto row two ahead of Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli who secured his best start of the season in sixth place.

Showdown six contender Peter Hickman was seventh fastest ahead of Hopkins who had a lightening start to his first flying lap, but he crashed out at the Loop unhurt and he will start eighth on the grid, just ahead of Glenn Irwin who didn’t start Q3 due to an oil pressure problem.

MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, Datatag Qualifying:

1. Jason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) 2m:04.811s
2. Jake Dixon (RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki) +0.177s
3. James Ellison (McAMS Yamaha) +0.219s
4. Josh Brookes (Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha) +0.353s
5. Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.408s
6. Sylvain Guintoli (Bennetts Suzuki) +0.585s
7. Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) +1.129s
8. John Hopkins (Moto Rapido Ducati)
9. Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati)