Ryuichi Kiyonari lapped under the Donington Park record to power his Buildbase BMW to pole position for the opening race of the 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, edging just 0.029s ahead of James Ellison and Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne.

Kiyonari had been on the pace across the three elements of the Datatag Qualifying session, but the Japanese ace admitted that he was nervous before taking to the track to finally secure the first pole position of the new season.

“It was very hard and before the final part of qualifying I was really nervous, but now it is done I am happy and ready for the races,” Kiyonari said.

“There will be big battles, but I will try to push as hard as I can, with no more crashes I hope! My bike is good, the set-up is perfect, now it is down to me.”

Record-breaking title-winner Byrne completes the front row, but still not back to full fitness following his pre-season testing crash in Spain last month.

Australia’s Josh Brookes was only marginally down as he set the fourth fastest time aboard the Milwaukee Yamaha to head the second row.

“It’s difficult to say how much we’ve improved,” Brookes explained. “The bike was quite good in FP1 and I thought by FP3 we would do more, but that has not really been the case.

“We have key problems to address but it is all about understanding the bike – I want to go quicker and that is what we are all working to do. There is more to work on and we have to achieve that.

“For me, it does not feel like me out on the track and I hope to put something much stronger together for the races. I wanted top four in qualifying so in one respect I have achieved what I set out to do.”

Brookes was ahead of Stuart Easton on the second PBM Kawasaki and Danny Buchan (Be Wiser Kawasaki), the reigning Superstock 1000 champion.

RAF Reserves BMW’s Peter Hickman was seventh while Broc Parkes on the second Milwaukee Yamaha bounced back from a crash to qualify eighth.

Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot and Billy McConnell, who has returned to the top flight on the Smiths BMW having won the Motorpoint British Supersport crown with them last season, completed the top 10.

Next best of the Aussies was Josh Waters (Bennetts Suzuki) in 20th position, as Jason O’Halloran’s return to the premier class with Honda Racing resulted in 23rd. Experienced South Australian David Johnson will start out of 33rd.

The opening Supersport race of the season belonged to Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing Triumph), with Levi Day 12th overall and fourth of the Evo runners to start the season.

Click here for detailed results