Ryuichi Kiyonari outgunned his rival Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne in the battle for pole position as the ‘War for Four’ MCE Insurance British Superbike titles continues to rage at the penultimate round of the season at Silverstone.

The Japanese rider bounced back from a crash in the morning practice session to conquer a drying Northamptonshire circuit in style with a flying lap of 2m10.141 aboard his Buildbase BMW, opting for slick Pirelli tyres in the changing conditions.

“I am very happy to be on pole, but for me it has been a very difficult day with the crash in the morning. It was a small high-side but that was disappointing and then in qualifying I knew I had to just push and build confidence,” said Kiyonari, who had outpaced Byrne by 0.799s.

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Byrne, who takes a 12 points lead over Kiyonari into the races, decided to run with an intermediate front Pirelli tyre in the final element of the qualifying sessions. The standings leader was able to put in a last lap charge to secure his front row start, closing in on his Japanese rival.

“Both myself and Kiyo were in a difficult situation as we both wanted front row starts, but really could not take any chances. I decided to run with an intermediate front tyre and that was a gamble on the side of caution, but I put in a semi-decent last lap and am ready for good races,” said Byrne.

Gary Mason completed the front row of the grid on the Tsingtao WK Kawasaki, a first for the team in MCE BSB ahead of the chasing pack. Jon Kirkham and the Halsall Biker Gear Kawasaki team held fourth after he edged out title contender Josh Brookes on the Milwaukee Yamaha.

Title Fighter Chris Walker set the seventh best time, just ahead of his Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki teammate James Ellison with Dan Linfoot on the Quattro Plant Kawasaki ninth, ahead of fellow Title Fighter Tommy Bridewell who crashed his Milwaukee Yamaha before setting a flying lap in qualifying three.

In-form Australian Josh Waters will start from out of 12th position on his Tyco Suzuki.

Alastair Seeley capitalised on the woes of the Smiths Racing Triumph teammates Billy McConnell and Graeme Gowland in the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship Sprint race at Silverstone to score his seventh victory of the season.

The Martrain Yamaha rider had been battling throughout the opening laps of the race with Ulsterman Glenn Irwin as the pair continued to swap paint in their intense fight for the victory. The Gearlink Kawasaki rider was pushing Seeley for the win and neither were prepared to give an inch, but it was over for Irwin when a technical problem forced him to retire on lap 5.

Gowland had been battling in the leading pack, before he dropped down the order and was also sidelined with a technical problem, leaving his team-mate McConnell to fly the flag for the Smiths Racing Triumph team in sixth.

Tyco Suzuki’s Taylor Mackenzie and James Rispoli on board the Team Traction Control Yamaha were scrapping hard for the final podium positions over the final laps, with the pair almost coming to blows on the last lap of the race.

Rispoli grabbed second on the penultimate lap, but Mackenzie, en route to his first ever Supsersport podium finish took the fight to the American, twice pushing ahead before making a decisive at the Loop to move to cross the line in second place.

Luke Mossey finished fourth ahead of Sam Hornsey and Luke Jones with McConnell dropping to eighth on the final lap, ahead of the leading Supersport EVO rider Alex Olsen.

Danny Buchan headed off the challenge of title rival Jason O’Halloran to put his Tsingtao WK Kawasaki onto the Superstock 1000 pole, though the Honda rider was closing rapidly. Lee Jackson completed the front row on the Buildbase BMW.

In the Superstock 600 qualifying, title rivals Kyle Ryde and Andy Reid start alongside each other at the front of the grid. Ryde took pole by 1.208s on the PacedayZ Trackdays Yamaha from his FFX Yamaha rival with Nick Anderson completing the front row on the Be Wiser Kawasaki. Levi Day will start 12th, Benjamin Currie 17th.

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