2019 British Superbike Championship
Round Ten – Assen – Saturday / Report
Scott Redding maintained his position at the top of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship times in Datatag Qualifying at Assen on Saturday afternoon, setting a stunning lap seven-tenths inside the existing lap record.
The Be Wiser Ducati rider held off Tommy Bridewell who closed to within 0.175s of his Showdown rival during the final fight for pole position.
Redding had topped the free practice sessions earlier in the weekend but in the final decisive stage of Datatag Qualifying, Bridewell had set his personal best to slash the advantage and claim another front row start for Oxford Racing Ducati.
Scott Redding – P1
“I think the lap today came quite naturally because it is a track that I have experience at and have been to it in the last 12 months so that feels nice! I was relaxed from FP1 but we are still trying understand the set up on circuits like this. It felt a bit more difficult to make the lap time then. I was struggling with my vision out of the back of the track as the sun was coming down and I lost a little bit of time and made a little mistake, but it is what it is. I then tried to push on a bit more in the other sectors and work as best as I could. I have used a lot of the used tyres this weekend because my pace was fast, so in Q2 we used a used tyre and I was still pretty fast and that is good for the race tomorrow. I just want to have a good pace and be consistent tomorrow so thanks to the team for putting together the package for me this weekend and I look forward to the races tomorrow.”
The pair are joined on the front row by Luke Stapleford, who celebrated his first front row start of the season for Buildbase Suzuki after nudging Jason O’Halloran onto the second row on the leading McAMS Yamaha.
Josh Brookes had a stronger session in Datatag Qualifying, improving throughout the three stages to post the fifth fastest time as he bids to maintain his championship lead in tomorrow’s two opening Showdown races.
Danny Buchan is the fourth Showdown contender on the grid, holding sixth place to complete the second row for FS3-Racing Kawasaki.
Ryan Vickers had his best qualifying performance of the season on his first visit to Assen, claiming seventh place for RAF Regular & Reserves Kawasaki ahead of Tyco BMW pairing Christian Iddon and Glenn Irwin who completed the top nine despite both riders crashing during qualifying.
However it was another difficult session for Showdown contenders Peter Hickman and Tarran Mackenzie who start in 11th and 15th on the grid respectively for race one tomorrow.
Bennetts British Superbike Qualifying
| Pos | Rider | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Scott REDDING | 1:36.112 | 1:36.171 | 1:35.588 |
| 2 | Tommy BRIDEWELL | 1:36.220 | 1:36.340 | 1:35.763 |
| 3 | Luke STAPLEFORD | 1:36.455 | 1:36.358 | 1:35.803 |
| 4 | Jason O’HALLORAN | 1:36.982 | 1:36.117 | 1:36.023 |
| 5 | Josh BROOKES | 1:36.837 | 1:36.325 | 1:36.086 |
| 6 | Danny BUCHAN | 1:36.820 | 1:36.359 | 1:36.828 |
| 7 | Ryan VICKERS | 1:36.816 | 1:36.351 | 1:36.865 |
| 8 | Christian IDDON | 1:37.069 | 1:36.174 | 1:36.877 |
| 9 | Glenn IRWIN | 1:37.034 | 1:36.502 | 1:37.346 |
| 10 | Héctor BARBERÁ | 1:37.182 | 1:36.602 | / |
| 11 | Peter HICKMAN | 1:36.897 | 1:36.641 | / |
| 12 | Xavi FORÉS | 1:36.744 | 1:36.678 | / |
| 13 | Bradley RAY | 1:37.032 | 1:36.694 | / |
| 14 | Dan LINFOOT | 1:36.760 | 1:36.710 | / |
| 15 | Tarran MACKENZIE | 1:37.107 | 1:36.908 | / |
| 16 | Luke MOSSEY | 1:37.202 | 1:37.028 | / |
| 17 | Ben CURRIE | 1:37.341 | 1:37.474 | / |
| 18 | Andrew IRWIN | 1:37.147 | / | / |
| 19 | Richard COOPER | 1:37.438 | / | / |
| 20 | James ELLISON | 1:37.563 | / | / |
| 21 | Alex OLSEN | 1:37.835 | / | / |
| 22 | Matt TRUELOVE | 1:38.410 | / | / |
| 23 | Claudio CORTI | 1:38.418 | / | / |
| 24 | Shaun WINFIELD | 1:38.815 | / | / |
| 25 | Joe FRANCIS | 1:39.194 | / | / |
| 26 | Sam COVENTRY | 1:39.404 | / | / |
Dickies British Supersport / British GP2 Cup
GP2 rider Kyle Ryde took a last lap victory in the Dickies British Supersport Sprint race, out dragging the Supersport machine of Jack Kennedy.
Ryde leapt off the line to lead at the end of the opening lap ahead of Brad Jones, Eemeli Lahti and Kennedy but Jones made his move into the lead just one lap later. Disaster struck almost immediately though as the Integro Yamaha rider crashed out of contention.
At the half race stage, Kennedy made his move into the lead with Ryde staying in close contention. Separated by just 0.1s for the closing stages, Ryde set his fastest lap of the race on the penultimate circulation to close up. Making his move half way around the final lap, Kennedy struck straight back to lead out of the chicane but the fast charging Ryde was able to out drag him over the line.
Goulburn teenager Tom Toparis finished third on track, and second in the Supersport category, ahead of Mason Law on the GP2 machine and Richard Kerr.
Dickies British Supersport / British GP2 Cup Qualifying
Source: MCNews.com.au