2024 British Superbikes: Navarra - Qualifying Results

Results from Superpole qualifying at the opening round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Navarra in Spain, with Danny Kent taking pole position.

Lisa Lewis

20 Apr 2024

Danny Kent, BSB, 2024
© Ian Hopgood Photography

The BSB paddock’s first race weekend in Navarra got of to a tense start, with Danny Kent on pole position after Superpole qualifying at the opening round.

Kent had an extended wait after a red flag for Tommy Bridewell, who did not set a lap after smoke billowed from the back of his Honda, but it did not shake the former Moto3 champion, who collected his first ever BSB pole position with a near perfect lap.

Now at the Mar-Train team, who picked up the McAMS sponsor name, Kent was the third to last rider to head out and made up time with an incredibly strong second sector. The rest of the lap was tidy, with the #52 finishing in a 1m 36.609s best for his first ever BSB pole position.

Ryan Vickers arrived with the best time , set in the morning FP1 session so went out on track last. The OMG rider looked set to take over at the top as his pre-session pace had suggested after he too set a new best middle sector, but the Norfolk based rider was pushing so hard you could hear his tyres screech. Losing time to the line Vickers will fill second, just 0.039s slower.

Vickers bucked the trend of setting a new personal bast, with his top practice time remaining the best lap overall at Navarra.

The front row will be an all Yamaha lock out with pre-season favourite after topping both tests, Kyle Ryde, third. The #77 stated he did not get on with the waiting involved in the superpole format as he gets nervous, but was keen to run a clean lap after hitting the green around the track in practice, which he achieved to complete the front row.

Skinner fourth from Q1 promotion.

Rory Skinner came through Q1 with the best time and was just the third rider on track for Cheshire Mouldings BMW, back in BSB with TAS Racing after his year in Moto2.

The Scottish rider is nursing an arm injury and was holding chilled bottles of water on his arm while waiting for the one lap shootout to start, but his time on track in the first qualifying session saw the #11 able to use his track knowledge to pull out a solid early lap. His run saw Skinner hold off all-comers until Glenn Irwin took to the track to move to provisional first though he lost time in the final sector, only dropping out of the podium places when Ryde, the penultimate rider, completed his lap.

Irwin placed fourth after his time was also shuffled back for Hager PBM Ducati with Skinner set to fill fifth.

Peter Hickman was sixth for FHO Racing, just ahead of Lee Jackson, the highest placing Honda rider, now at MasterMac.

Max Cook, last season’s top rookie, was the first rider not to go top as he failed to beat Skinner’s best, leaving him eighth for Completely Motorbikes as the top Kawasaki qualifier.

Charlie Nesbitt was ninth quickest on the second Cheshire Mouldings bike. Christian Iddon completed the top ten for Oxford Products Ducati.

Jason O’Halloran in eleventh and the first man on track, Josh Brookes were the only other riders to set a lap.

British Superbikes Round One - Navarra- Superpole Qualifying
Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Danny Kent	GBR	McAMSRacing (Yamaha)	1m 36.609s
2	Ryan Vickers	GBR	OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing (Yamaha)	+0.039s
3	Kyle Ryde	GBR	OMG GRILLA Yamaha Racing (Yamaha)	+0.189s
4	Glenn Irwin	GBR	Hager PBM (Ducati)	+0.275s
5	Rory Skinner	GBR	Cheshire Mouldings BMW Motorrad(BMW)	+0.564s
6	Peter Hickman	GBR	FHO Racing BMW Motorrad(BMW)	+0.630s
7	Lee Jackson	GBR	MasterMac Honda (Honda)	+0.640s
8	Max Cook	GBR	Completely Motorbike(Kawasaki)	+0.811s
9	Charlie Nesbitt	GBR	MasterMac Honda (Honda)	+0.839s
10	Christian Iddon	GBR	Oxford Products Racing (Ducati)	+1.001s
11	Jason O'Halloran	AUS	Completely Motorbikes (Kawasaki)	+1.016s
12	Josh Brookes	AUS	FHO Racing BMW Motorrad(BMW)	+1.104s
13	Fraser Rogers	GBR	TAG Racing (Honda)	DNF
14	Leon Haslam	GBR	ROKiT Haslam Racing BMW Motorrad(BMW)	DNF
15	Tommy Bridewell	GBR	Honda Racing UK (Honda)	DNF
		Q1
16	Franco Bourne	GBR	Rapid Honda (Honda)	1m 37.865s
17	Storm Stacey	GBR	LKQ Euro Car Parts (Kawasaki)	1m 37.942s
18	Andrew Irwin	GBR	Honda Racing UK (Honda)	1m 37.961s
19	Danny Buchan	GBR	DAO Racing (Kawasaki)	1m38.017s
20	Dean Harrison	GBR	Honda Racing UK (Honda)	1m 38.049s
21	Billy McConnell	AUS	C&L Fairburn/ Look Forward Racing (Honda)	1m 38.114s
22	Alex Olsen	GBR	Cumins by Team IWR(Honda)	1m 38.164s
23	Jamie van Sikkelerus	NED	TAG Honda (Honda)	1m 38.474s
24	Lewis Rollo	GBR	IN Competition/SENCAT(Aprilia)	1m 38.523s
25	Brayden Elliott	AUS	DAO Racing(Kawasaki)	1m 38.932s
26	Luke Hedger	GBR	Whitecliffe CDH Racing(Kawasaki)	1m 39.351s
27	Tom Neave	GBR	STAUFFFluid Power (Kawasaki)	1m 39.496s
28	Louis Valleley	GBR	NP Racing (Kawasaki)	1m 40.459s

Race against time for Bridewell in vain

They may be teammates no longer, but Glenn Irwin and Tommy Bridewell still had something in common as the both had disrupted practice sessions earlier on Saturday.

Glenn Irwin had given his Hager PBM Team some early patch up work after a fall in the first session, but by qualifying was back in the driving seat.

The same could not be said for Bridewell, who was seen heading the wrong way down pit lane in FP2. His bike issue happened right at the start of the session, with only an out lap recorded.

After a frantic race against time for the Honda Racing mechanics, who were still working away in Q1, the #1 plate made it out on track after the total rebuild.

There was smoke almost instantly from the back of the bike, by the rear tyre, with the marshals quick to flag Bridewell, who made a swift exit up a side slip road. The red flag was brought out next to allow for a check for oil on track. The lack of a lap left Bridewell at the back of the timesheets for the session, placing him 15th on the grid.

Leon Haslam also had a disastrous Superpole experience.

Once again out on his own Rokit BMW, the #91 had started fastest with a purple sector, but crashed when pushing in the second section of the track, his bike cartwheeling through the gravel after chatter combined with finding a bump on track to prevent Haslam setting a time.

Haslam was faster in free practice so places ahead of Bridewell on the grid.

Fraser Rodgers had a mechanical issue on his TAG Racing Honda, so also left the session without a lap to his name.

Q1 - Expected trio head to Superpole

The earlier FP1 session was the one which decided who would automatically move into the shootout in Superpole, with Max Cook scraping the last place in the top twelve as a late fall for Charlie Nesbitt prevented any last minute laps registering.

Q1 saw the remaining riders battle to be in the top three, to progress to Superpole, with those places taken by Brookes, Nesbitt and Skinner.

Official British Superbike Navarra Records:

There are no records available for Navarra as it is a new track for the BSB championship.

FP1 best lap: Ryan Vickers - 1m 36.531s

FP2 best lap: Kyle Ryde - 1m 36.584s

That left Rapid Honda’s Franco Bourne as the best of the rest, lining up 16th for the races on Sunday.

Andrew Irwin looked to have a shot at moving on and was expected to vye for a spot. The Honda racing rider never really got back to the pace shown before his earlier practice tumble, so starts 18th after finishing the session in sixth.

The best of the Pathway riders, with Superstock engines, was Alex Olsen on his Honda in 22nd just ahead of fellow Pathway rookie riders Jaime van Sikkelerus and Lewis Rollo.