2024 British Superbikes: Thruxton - Qualifying Results

Kyle Ryde was on lap record form as he eased to pole position in qualifying for
round seven of the British Superbikes championship, at Thruxton.

Ryde was not happy with his first lap in the Q2 session, with OMG Grilla teammate Ryan Vickers after the same piece of track and heading to the top of the timesheets.

Aware of what he felt capable of, and with a tyre able to support another run at pole, the Yamaha rider went again and moved up from eighth to first with a time of 1m 14.592s - under the race lap record held by Josh Brookes.

That best held firm allowing the #7 rider to sit out the rest of the session in the pits until a late exit for a practice start.

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Jason O’Halloran dominated Thruxton in 2023 on the Yamaha with the McAMS team. Now a Kawasaki rider the Completely Motorbikes rider got off to a solid tenth at the end of Friday. The Australian built from there for second - falling just 0.011s short of the pole time.

The front row will be completed by another Australian - Billy McConnell.

The C&L Fairburn/Look Forward Racing Honda rider was able to latch on to reigning champion Tommy Bridewell and used the #1 plated bike to slipstream ahead and claim third - as he did back in Snetterton (though was unable to take up the place for that race with injury).

Vickers was by far the best of the trio coming up from Q1 in fourth, with his final laps a long run showing consistent, fast pace for the race ahead.

Danny Kent was fastest on Friday and was still on the pace in qualifying, just 0.127s slower than the top time in fifth in a close session for McAMS Yamaha.

Leon Haslam was just behind in sixth for ROKiT Haslam Racing, with early leader Lee Jackson falling back to seventh as the pace picked up for MasterMac Honda.

Bridewell placed eighth, ahead of Honda UK teammate Andrew Irwin, with Max Cook completing the top ten on the second Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki.

One of several riders classing The Hampshire track as their home circuit, local rider Charlie Nesbitt arrived as a name to watch at Thruxton in 2023 with a strong set of results across the races, securing three podium finishes.  A year on the MasterMac Honda rider has work to do to emulate that success, from eleventh on the grid.

Storm Stacey was 13th after moving through Q1, ahead of Glenn Irwin in 14th for Hagar Ducati.

Thruxton once again proved challenging for the Ducati riders, so the PBM rider was happy to make it through the first qualifying session at a track where the manufacturer struggled heavily last season.

Christian Iddon sat out FP3 with tyre allocation issues, but was back in Q2 - the Oxford products rider also found the going tough on a Ducati, finishing 15th.

Official British Superbike Brands Hatch Records:

Lap Record: Josh Brookes (Ducati, 2019) 1m 14.655s

Thruxton in 2023:

Round 7
Qualifying: 
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Ryan Vickers
3: Kyle Ryde

Race 1 (Sprint):
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Charlie Nesbitt
3: Ryan Vickers

Race 2:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2:  Lee Jackson
3: Charlie Nesbitt

Race 3:
1: Jason O’Halloran
2: Lee Jackson
3: Charlie Nesbitt

Q1- FP2 sees both Vickers and Glenn Irwin need to progress

Ryan Vickers arrived on a high after taking a perfect set of pole and three race wins at the last round at Brands Hatch. After leading FP1 the #7 was 15th overnight and back to earth with a bump in the shape of a trip through Q1.

That was immediately dealt with as Vickers posted a 1m 14.788s - the best lap of the weekend at the time and close to the lap record, allowing him to sit in the pits with his helmet off.

Vickers was not the only rider normally at the front of the timesheets with work to do as Glenn Irwin finished Friday even lower down in 17th.

Stacey in second and Irwin in third also felt they had done enough so moved on sat in their respective boxes.

Fraser Rogers and Rory Skinner both made successful returns from injury. Rogers, returning from two broken legs, just missed out on progression in fourth so lines up 16th later for TAG Honda. Skinner was a cautious ninth, so lines up in 21st for race one.

Circuit record holder Brookes saw FHO Racing teammate Peter Hickman move comfortably to Q2, while he finished the FP2 session a lowly 21st. His fortunes did not improve by Q1, which saw the Australian finish 20th, behind both pathway bikes.

The best of that duo was Alex Olsen in sixth (18th on the grid) just ahead of Lewis Rollo.

A crash for Louis Valleley at turn two cemented his position at the back of the grid.

Dean Harrison is in the paddock, but not riding in the Superbike class this weekend. Looking to improve the Honda, the road racing specialist can instead be found in the British Supersport class, where earlier he qualified in fifth.

Jaimie van Sikkelerus is also absent after picking up an injury, he is not replaced at TAG Honda.