Donington BSB: Booth-Amos arrives on Supersport pole

Late entry Tom Booth-Amos made a stunning impact in Quattro Group British Supersport qualifying at Donington Park on Saturday, the Gearlink Kawasaki rider taking pole position ahead of Jaimie van Sikkelerus (MPM Routz Racing Yamaha) and Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha).

Perie’s teammate Harry Truelove set the early pace with a 1’34.046 putting him two tenths of a second quicker than Booth-Amos but Perie soon overhauled them both with a 1’33.912. That didn’t last long though as van Sikkelerus lapped at 1’33.443s to go almost half a second clear. The front four – van Sikkelerus, Perie, Booth-Amos and Jack Scott (Kovara Projects/RS Racing One) – were all lapping in the 1’33s and it was Scott who was the first to knock van Sikkelerus off the top spot, the GP2 runner lapping at 1’33.228. Booth-Amos quickly got to within 0.056s of the lead time but Perie was charging and became the first rider to dip below 1’33, his lap of 1’32.875s putting him almost half a second clear although further changes could be expected with twenty minutes of the session still remaining. His advantage was cut to just 0.005s by Dutch ace van Sikkelerus and at the halfway point of the session, the top six read Perie, van Sikkelerus, Scott, Booth-Amos, Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) and Truelove. After a slight lull in proceedings, with many of the leading runners pitting for new tyres, the next change came with 11 minutes to go when Booth-Amos hit the top spot for the first time, his lap of 1’32.604s putting him 0.271s ahead of Perie. Further back, Johnston’s teammate Damon Rees moved from eleventh to seventh and a couple of laps later, this became sixth for the Kiwi. Perie regained the number one spot with four minutes to go after