Sean Emmett arrived at Brands Hatch for the second round of the THINK! British Superbike Championship promising to re-dress the balance after a disappointing time in the opener and the MonsterMob Ducati rider packed the power to grab pole-start at record breaking pace.

The 34 year old Londoner dominated practice and then qualifying, timing his run to the top of the leaderboard to perfection, spotting the opportunity of clear track in the second session, and then putting his qualifying tyre to good effect.

"I prefer to get out there midway through a session and put in a quick run

- that way, the track is clear and there are no dramas," he smiled, reflecting on his time of 45.811 seconds, an average speed of 96.36 mph around the 1.226 mile Indy circuit. "That was the fastest ever lap round here, but now I have to keep it going into the races."

Emmett, bidding to become the third rider in as many years to win the title with Paul Bird's team, needs victories in the two 30 lap races as he battles to reduce the 17 points deficit he has on first round winners and joint leaders Michael Rutter and John Reynolds.

But despite clipping a third of a second off the record, he could not shake off their challenge.

Reynolds, riding Rizla Suzuki, closed in on him towards the ends of the session, with his team-mate, Yukio Kagayama, who is still recovering from the injuries sustained in a racing crash last August moving into third place on the leaderboard at the expense of HM Plant Honda Fireblade rider Rutter.

Aussies Dean Thomas and Glen Richards, the latter despite a tumble in the second session, head the second row, which is completed by Scott Smart and Ryuichi Kiyonari, another rider to slide off during qualifying.

Jon Kirkham, the 20 year old Derbyshire rider, was tenth fastest overall, but best of the qualifiers for the Superbike Cup - for privateer riders - with Sam Corke only marginally slower.

ends