Haslam claims the first pole position after hectic opening Datatag Qualifying

Leon Haslam carried his momentum from free practice into today’s Datatag Qualifying session, claiming the first pole position of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, holding off his hard charging team-mate Luke Mossey and defending champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne.

It was a hectic session with several of the leading contenders having a disastrous start ahead of this afternoon’s opening race. Christian Iddon and Gino Rea crashed out in the early stages of the session, putting them in 15th, 16th at the chequered flag respectively whilst Bridewell crashed the Movuno.com Halsall Racing Suzuki and was unable to set a time.

The cooler conditions didn’t faze Haslam though and he fired his way to the top and held the position ahead of his JG Speedfit Kawasaki team-mate with Byrne saving his best until his final lap before the chequered flag to move into third and push James Ellison back onto the second row.

Danny Buchan had an impressive qualifying session for the FS-3 Racing Kawasaki team, posting the fifth fastest time as he got nudged down the order in the final moments with Jason O'Halloran completing row two for Honda Racing.

Bradley heads row three on the leading Suzuki ahead of Peter Hickman and the second Honda Racing Fireblade of Dan Linfoot. Glenn Irwin, despite his big crash yesterday, completed the top ten for the Be Wiser Ducati team.

Josh Brookes had a challenging session in 13th place for McAMS Yamaha whilst his team-mate Tarran Mackenzie also crashed out unhurt.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Donington Park, Datatag Qualifying result:

1. Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 1m:29.128s
2. Luke Mossey (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.461s
3. Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.462s
4. James Ellison (Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha) +0.485s
5. Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) +0.606s
6. Jason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) +0.633s
7. Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.650s
8. Peter Hickman (Smiths Racing BMW) +0.701s
9. Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.706s
10. Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati) +1.042s