Burns sets record despite 'stupid crash'.

In warm and breezy conditions in the British Midlands, WCM rider Chris Burns enjoyed his first ever Saturday qualifying session of the season. The 23 year old from Newcastle was delighted with how he qualified for his home GP after clocking up only 240 km in total on the ROC two-stroke Yamaha.

It was a memorable day for Burns as his time of 1min 34.400secs makes his ride today the quickest ever that a four-cylinder, two-stroke, privateer machine has recorded at Donington.

"Well it was hard work out there today and I guess I got something out of it, with setting the non-factory team two-stroke, four cylinder lap here," he said. "I've got a pretty good set-up for tomorrow and the first qualifier tyre was really good.

"I was disappointed that I had a stupid crash this moring in practice, I wheelied out of the hairpin and the front just folded underneath me. I lost about 25 minutes practice because of that. So we have to make the best of what we have got and I am really looking forward to tomorrow," he added.

"As a team we are thrilled by what Chris has achieved," enthused team Manager Peter Clifford. "A big thanks to Dunlop for the tyres that enabled him to do that and we are confident we can give him a stronger engine for the race."