Lavilla on pole with fastest ever lap.
Gregorio Lavilla on the Black Mint Airwaves Ducati has taken pole during an incident strewn qualifying session ahead of round twelve of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, at Silverstone.
He lapped in 1min 25.174secs surpassing Johnny Rea's time from free practice three. His team-mate Leon Haslam was second fastest and just 0.035secs off his time. Ryuichi Kiyonari on the HM Plant Honda finished in third place and Johnny Rea on the Red Bull Honda finished fourth rounding out the front row.
Gregorio Lavilla on the Black Mint Airwaves Ducati has taken pole during an incident strewn qualifying session ahead of round twelve of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, at Silverstone.
He lapped in 1min 25.174secs surpassing Johnny Rea's time from free practice three. His team-mate Leon Haslam was second fastest and just 0.035secs off his time. Ryuichi Kiyonari on the HM Plant Honda finished in third place and Johnny Rea on the Red Bull Honda finished fourth rounding out the front row.
The session got off to a dramatic start when Rea crashed at Woodcote chicane just five minutes into the solitary qualifying session, bringing out the red flags. The Red Bull Honda team had to rework Rea's one and only bike to get him back out on track in time to finish the session.
Seven minutes later Lavilla suffered a technical and had to wonder back to the pits for his number two machine. The crashing continued when Glen Richards parted company with his Hydrex Honda and Ryuichi Kiyonari followed suit two minutes later, crashing at Maggots. Kiyo's spill was at high speed, approximately 140 mph, he was able to walk away with a minor flesh wound.
Richards' day went from bad to worse when he crashed again, this time at Woodcote with just eight minutes of the session to run. As qualifying neared a close Michael Laverty fell
from his Stobart Honda at Maggots bringing out the red flags once again.
With the five minutes remaining, Rea who had fallen down the order by this stage having been baulked on his fast lap by the second set of red flags, put in his fast lap to move back up to the front row of the grid.
Chris Martin on the PR Branson Honda was the first Privateer's Cup rider home. He is hoping to wrap up the Cup this weekend and is planning on dedicating his title to his younger brother Ashley who lost his life at Cadwell Park.
BSB qualifying results (1) - Silverstone:
1. Gregorio Lavilla
2. Leon Haslam
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari
4. Johnny Rea
5. Tommy Hill
6. Karl Harris
7. Michael Rutter
8. Shane Byrne
9. Michael Laverty
10. James Haydon
