Max Cook posted the fastest-ever British Superbike Championship lap of Oulton Park to secure his first pole of the 2026 season.
In yet another super-fast qualifying session, Cook dipped straight into the 1:32s on his first flying lap with a 1:32.787. This was later beaten by Storm Stacey (1:32.744), however Cook regrouped and went even faster on his final lap with a 1:32.662; quicker than anybody has ever been around Oulton Park.
Bradley Ray has given himself a fighting chance in this afternoon’s race by qualifying third on the McAMS Yamaha .
Leon Haslam put his Moto Rapido Racing Ducati in fourth ahead of impressive rookie Joe Talbot, with title-chasing Scott Redding completing the second row. The top six all posted 1:32 lap-times.
Ryan Vickers was the leading Honda rider in seventh ahead of Rory Skinner and Ilya Mikhalchik. In a surprise turn of events, reigning double champion Kyle Ryde qualified down in 10 th , and also survived a scare on the exit of Brittens. Ryde crashed at that same corner yesterday afternoon during the pre-qualifying session , which was his first crash in over a year.
Ryde’s teammate Glenn Irwin will start alongside him in 11 th spot after making it through Q1. Irwin’s weekend has been tough so far having missed the entire FP2 session due to an engine change taking place on his Nitrous Coin Nitrous Competitions Racing Ducati.
Aussies Jason O’Halloran and Josh Brookes qualified 12 th and 13 th respectively, with fellow BSB veteran Christian Iddon in 14 th . Rhys Irwin made it through to Q2 for the first time in his short BSB career and qualified in 15 th onboard the MasterMac Honda.
Lee Jackson narrowly missed out on a Q2 spot after finishing fourth in Q1 – just 0.072s behind Rhys Irwin. The DAO Racing Honda rider will therefore start race one from 16 th on the grid. Danny Kent’s struggles continued in 17 th , with Fraser Rogers completing the sixth row for TAG Honda.
Richard Kerr and Charlie Nesbitt qualified 19 th and 20 th respectively, ahead of the returning Joe Sheldon-Shaw and Graeme Irwin. Brayden Elliot and newcomer Dan Brooks complete the grid.
The opening BSB race of the weekend at Oulton Park is due to begin at 16:15.
Sports Reporter - Motorcycle racing enthusiast Josh joined the MCN team in 2019. He studied Sports Journalism at the University of Sunderland, leaving with a 2:1 and a Gold Standard Diploma in Journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). Introduced to the world of motorcycle racing by his dad as a youngster, Josh became a fan of MotoGP, WorldSBK and BSB. Like many, Josh became a huge Valentino Rossi supporter…little did he know that years later he would ask a question or two to the man himself.
Sports Reporter and fan of all things motorsport