DIXON SCORES POLE POSITION WITH FASTEST EVER KNOCKHILL LAP

Jake Dixon scored his first pole position of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill this afternoon (Sunday), launching the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki to the top of the times with the fastest ever lap of the Scottish circuit.

The fight for pole position started with Josh Brookes leading the way after Q2 as the lap times continued to tumble in an incredibly fast qualifying session. Christian Iddon was one of the first riders to post a time which put him briefly at the top of the times before last year’s double race winner Dixon charged to the top.

Dixon’s rivals were pushing to edge the advantage but with 0.5s covering all nine riders in Datatag Q3 it was the RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki rider who emerged ahead to celebrate his second front row start of the season.

Dixon said: “I come to every round wanting to win races and I feel that we have just been lacking in one area which we have improved this weekend. I hope that can translate into the race because we have done our homework during free practice.

“I feel that I have really good pace; in Q1 and Q2 I didn’t feel as confident because we made a change, but then we reverted back to what we had done in free practice three and instantly went quicker. I am really happy and I can’t thank the team enough so I want to repay them by fighting for the wins.”

Brookes was hard-charging his way up the order and he soon set a lap to put him to within 0.098s of Dixon to secure his second consecutive front row start as he bids to fight back in the two races tomorrow after narrowly missing out on the victory at Snetterton.

Glenn Irwin had set the pace in free practice three but the Be Wiser Ducati rider will start tomorrow’s opening race from the second row, just ahead of Danny Buchan who held off Michael Laverty onboard the Tyco BMW.

Bradley Ray will start race one from seventh on the grid, missing out on the row two by just 0.003s on the Buildbase Suzuki with Christian Iddon and Dan Linfoot completing the top nine riders who qualified for Q3.

Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Knockhill, Datatag Qualifying:

1. Jake Dixon (RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki) 47.158s
2. Josh Brookes (McAMS Yamaha) +0.098s
3. Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +0.184s
4. Glenn Irwin (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.223s
5. Danny Buchan (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) +0.272s
6. Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +0.386s
7. Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki) +0.389s
8. Christian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +0.437s
9. Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +0.564s