Jonathan Rea re-wrote the Croft record books as he claimed pole start for the tenth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship with the fastest ever two wheeled lap of the North Yorkshire circuit.

And now the 19 year old Red Bull Honda rider reckons the time is right to enjoy a first ever victory in the top flight: “Hopefully it will come here - this has got to give me my best shot at winning a race and I am well up for it.”

The Ballyclare rider had been the dominant force throughout practice and qualifying, but he saved his best, on a blustery afternoon, for the final minutes of the session as he set a blistering time of 1m 19.433 an average 96.39mph around the 2.127 mile circuit, and a remarkable one and a half seconds inside the record.

“The lap felt really smooth, though I was bit surprised by the time as I made a little mistake out there, but the tyre I had in was so grippy that it was like taking a walk in the park. Now though I have to concentrate on podium finishes I these races as I want to get ahead of Shane Byrne in the standings.”

Rea, needed his pace to keep him ahead of the title chasing trio who packed the front row of the grid as they prepare for a high speed `shoot-out.' Ryuichi Kiyonari, Leon Haslam and Gregorio Lavilla are separated by just 14 points in the standings, and here there was less than a third of a second between them.

Haslam, whose speed in qualifying eased him seven points clear of Lavilla in the Audi Performance Award rankings, is aiming to peg back the five points deficit he has on Kiyonari. He shrugged aside a tumble during morning practice, to close within 0.134secs of Rea, but Kiyonari, who had also escaped with a bruising as he tipped off was only a split second down on him.

Lavilla, the reigning champion had complained of a gear problem during the morning session, but that had been sorted for the grid decider, and he lapped in 1m 19.893secs, fourth fastest.

Shane Byrne, riding Rizla Suzuki, heads up the second row of the grid, with a 1m 19.929secs lap, ahead of Karl Harris, another faller during the morning session, who recovered to set sixth best time, half a second up on Virgin Mobile Yamaha's Tommy Hill, with Michael Rutter aboard the Stobart Motorsport Honda, eighth in a time of 1m 20.500secs.

Simon Andrews continued to impress on the Jentin Yamaha, to start from the third row, ahead of Glen Richards, Michael Laverty and Billy McConnell, while Ben Wilson, thirteenth fastest on the leaderboard carries the main hopes of the Vivaldi Suzuki team here, following a crash in which his team-mate Scott Smart sustained arm injuries, ruling him out of the race.

Dean Thomas, returning to racing, having recovered from the injuries sustained in a heavy crash during the Snetterton round in June, starts his Hawk Kawasaki, alongside the Lincolnshire rider, while Chris Martin looks set to extend his advantage in the British Superbike Cup having outqualified his rival Marty Nutt by almost a second.

ends