Lincolnshire fans had a Bennetts British Superbike Championship Qualifying session to remember at Cadwell Park this afternoon as local team Honda Racing celebrated their first pole positon of 2021 with Glenn Irwin holding a 0.041s edge over Jason O'Halloran.
Irwin’s pole position lap came earlier in the 12-minute session and it wasn’t to be bettered as the Honda Racing rider strives for his first victory of the season in the opening race this afternoon.
Lincolnshire-based Australian O'Halloran came close though, moving to within 0.041s of the pole time on his final flying lap before the chequered flag. The championship leader, along with teammate Tarran Mackenzie and Tommy Bridewell, will be seeking three victories this weekend in their quest to net the £10,000 Milwaukee Summer Grand Slam prize for winning four races across the Donington Park and Cadwell Park rounds.
Peter Hickman returned to the front row for FHO Racing BMW; the Louth-based rider moving into second before O’Halloran’s improvement, which gave the team the final position on the front row for their home round.
Bridewell heads the second row of the grid for Oxford Products Racing Ducati, missing out on the front row by a fractional 0.161s. He will be joined on row two by local contender Lee Jackson and Andrew Irwin on the sole SYNETIQ BMW. The top six riders setting a pace under the existing race lap record at the Lincolnshire circuit.
Rory Skinner will head row three this afternoon from Ryan Vickers; the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki rider had set the fastest ever lap of the circuit yesterday in free practice, but a crash with six minutes remaining at Chris Curve bought out the red flag. The Norfolk rider was able to walk away from the crash but left him down the order in eighth after a tremendous start to the weekend.
Christian Iddon and Tarran Mackenzie completed the top ten, with reigning champion Josh Brookes dropping to 13th in SUPERPICKS Qualifying.
Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Cadwell Park, SUPERPICKS Qualifying result:
1. Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) 1m:26.012s
2. Jason O'Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) +0.041s
3. Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) +0.117s
4. Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati) +0.278s
5. Lee Jackson (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) +0.295s
6. Andrew Irwin (SYNETIQ BMW) +0.401s
7. Rory Skinner (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki) +0.579s
8. Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) +0.634s
9. Christian Iddon (VisionTrack Ducati) +0.719s
10. Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) +0.779s
For the full result please click here
REMINDER: The change in schedule today means Bennetts BikeSocial Race 1 (14:30) will be available live on the Eurosport app
Alternatively avoid spoilers and watch 'as live' from 16:45 on Eurosport 2, including the Quattro Group British Supersport Sprint race