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RAIN STOPS PLAY AT KNOCKHILL Michael Rutter has qualified on the front row of the grid on his HM Plant Honda Racing CBR1000RR Fireblade for the eighth consecutive British Superbike Championship event. The 31-year-old Leicestershire rider’s time of 50.992 seconds from this morning’s first qualifying session was enough to take third place on the grid for tomorrow’s two 30-lap races over the 1.3-mile Fife circuit. This afternoon’s second qualifying period was cancelled due to water on the track surface after a mid-afternoon downpour flooded sections of the Knockhill circuit. A special ruling stipulated that the times from this morning’s session stood to determine the final grid positions. The loss of the second session affected Ryuichi Kiyonari’s grid position on his first visit north of the border. The 21-year-old Japanese rider had to settle for 16th position and a time of 52.856 seconds. The second HM Plant Honda will start from the fourth row of the grid. Michael Rutter: “The conditions have made qualifying difficult for everyone over the past two days, although at least we were able to complete practice yesterday. In an ideal world we’d like more time to test the HM Plant Honda Racing Fireblade, but we’ve all got to settle for tomorrow morning’s warm-up. I’ve got a good base setting for all conditions and I’ll be looking to capitalise on my front row qualifying position to secure two high points-scoring results.” Ryuichi Kiyonari: “This is a short but technical track for me to learn in such a limited period of time. I was hoping to improve my time and qualifying position this afternoon, so the cancellation probably affected me more than the other factory riders. I will try hard to improve my position in the races and we’ll have to see how it goes – depending on the conditions of course.” Qualifying times: 1. J. Reynolds (Suzuki) 50.740; 2. Y. Kagayama (Suzuki) 50.932; 3. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) 50.992; 4. J. Haydon (Yamaha) 51.124; 5. S. Smart (Kawasaki) 51.248; 6. S. Emmett (Ducati) 51.262; 7. G. Mason (Yamaha) 51.544; 8. J. McGuinness (Kawasaki) 51.753; 9. D. Thomas (Ducati) 51.770; 10. D. Hobbs (Suzuki) 51.807; 16. R. Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 52.856
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