Crutchlow claims Oulton Park pole

From britishsuperbike.com

HM Plant Honda's Cal Crutchlow took his second pole position of the season at Oulton Park Saturday afternoon in the Swan Combi 50 - Roll for Pole qualifying session.

Crutchlow came into qualifying having been fastest in the final free practice in the morning and determined to keep the pressure on championship leader Shane 'Shakey' Byrne. The HM Plant Honda rider knocked Tom Sykes from the top at the beginning of the session, but he had to work hard to keep ahead of the flying Airwaves Ducati.

In the final minute it looked like Byrne would take his fifth pole position of the season, topping the times to edge Crutchlow back to second. But Crutchlow came straight back at him and on his final flying lap of the session before the chequered flag he was able to put himself back at the top just seconds after Byrne had moved ahead.

"I am looking forward to tomorrow's races," Crutchlow said. "This is one of my favourite circuits. I want to go out there and make amends for the round here earlier in the year when I crashed out.

"I think I could have gone a bit quicker out there but it was difficult as it was quite windy at certain places around the circuit. I got baulked on one of my laps too and I had to go wide. I now need to turn this speed into two wins tomorrow. I have to get the double win and I have no option but to just go for it."

Rizla Suzuki's Sykes seemed to have benefited from the changes the team have been making throughout this weekend and was able to take another front row start in third, just ahead of Leon Haslam on the second of the HM Plant Hondas.

Karl Harris, who had been fastest in the first two free practice sessions on Friday, dropped back to fifth ahead of Lloyds British Yamaha's Simon Andrews.

Leon Camier had another disappointing qualifying session and will now start from 29th on the grid after a crash at Island with 35 minutes remaining. The Airwaves Ducati rider then sat out the rest of the session.

MSS Discovery Kawasaki's Billy McConnell was another faller in the final minutes of the session after a promising start to the day in this morning's final free practice.

Swan Combi 50 - Roll for Pole results
1. Cal Crutchlow (HM Plant Honda) 1:36.298
2. Shane Byrne (Airwaves Ducati) +0.292
3. Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) +0.292
4. Leon Haslam (HM Plant Honda) +0.523
5. Karl Harris (Rob Mac Racing Yamaha) +0.533
6. Simon Andrews (Lloyds British Yamaha) +0.807
7. Michael Rutter (North West 200 Ducati) +1.073
8. James Ellison (Hydrex Bike Animal Honda) +1.260
9. Tristan Palmer (TENA for Men Honda) +1.502
10. Billy McConnell (MSS Discovery Kawasaki) +1.542