British Superbikes
Tommy Hill & his Yamaha YZF-R1
By
Apr 14, 2007, 14:25

Tommy Hill stunned the paddock into silence by launching his Pirelli-shod Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha YZF-R1 to his debut pole position and the fastest ever two-wheeled lap at Thruxton, today, 14 April.
The reversal of fortune proved a stark contrast to the opening round less than seven days ago. The 22-year old from Lingfield struggled to make in-roads into the top ten in race one, before a mechanical failure forced him out of the second.

Tommy firmly put the disappointment behind him as he headed towards the top of the timing sheets from the first Free Practice session on Friday morning. With track temperatures rising, it appeared that the Pirelli - Yamaha combination was starting to come to the fore. Within the first few laps of his Qualifying session, Tommy had elevated himself up to fourth with a blistering time of 1:15.497. Utilising his three Pirelli qualifying tyres to the max, Tommy posted his first sub 1:15-second lap to move into second. Then, with the clock ticking down, came the astonishing 1:14.433 lap that would secure Tommy his and Pirelli's first ever British Superbike pole position, ahead of tomorrow's two 22-lap races.

Team-mate James Haydon, will line up on the fifth row of the grid in 18th position. This does not reflect the 32-year olds continual effort over the past two days, as his time of 1:16.489 proved the quickest of his weekend so far.

Tommy Hill: "I am absolutely over the moon, it's just one extreme to another. I have gone from struggling to get into the top 10 at Brands to sticking it on pole not even a week later. I've been strong all weekend so hope to convert that to the racing tomorrow."

Rob McElnea, Team Principal: "I'm so pleased for the whole team, we had a nightmare last weekend and Tommy has just raised the game along with the spirits of us all. Bring on tomorrow! We are really confident of some good finishes across both Superbike and Supersport. The cup has just provided a different pole-position man in Leon Morris and the competition is as fierce as ever."

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