Redding riding the momentum for Thruxton BSB pole

He only turned a wheel at Thruxton for the first time on Friday but Scott Redding needed little more than 24hours to tame the fastest circuit in the UK as he powered to pole position for round seven of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.

The latest initiation for Redding, who despite being a BSB novice has pulled away in the title fight with six vicrtories in the bag already, the former MotoGP rider fended off fellow Ducati manb Tommy Bridewell to get the edge for pole.

Only 0.059s quicker than fellow title contender Bridewell, who is eager to get back to winning ways around both his and the Oxford Racing Moto Rapido’s home venue , Redding is likely to face competition from the in-form Peter Hickman, who placed his Smiths BMW on the outside of the front row having dominated free practice on Friday.

Josh Brookes heads up row four alongside the Irwin brothers, with Andrew continuing his ascent into regular top fives aboard the Honda and Glenn producing his best of the year on his Tyco BMW debut. The Ulsterman, who finished third overall in 2018, split with Kawasaki in the run up to the Thruxton event following a series of disappointing results

BSB rookie Ryan Vickers was also impressive to haul his RAF Regular & Reserves ZX-10RR in Q3 and take seventh on the grid as the highest-placed Kawasaki rider. He shares row three with Jason O’Halloran and Christian Iddon.

Tarran Mackenzie faces an uphill struggle on Sunday after failing to make it past Q1 on the McAMS Yamaha. He will start 19th, just behind Danny Kent, who hauled the Bike Devil MV Agusta into Q2 en route to 17tn.