Jonathan Rea claimed his second pole start of the campaign with a stylish performance in rain-lashed qualifying for the sixth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Mondello Park.

The 20 year old Ballyclare claimed his first ever pole start at the County Kildare circuit two years ago but this time around he left it late to enjoy an action-replay, powering in two consistently fast laps in the closing minutes.

The best of them came in a time of 1m 46.776secs, an average speed of 73.38mph, and that was enough to head off the threat of his HM Plant Honda team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari by a tenth of a second.

“We're making good progress,” said Rae, who is currently third in the title stakes. “I'm hoping now that I can start closing down the lead that Kiyo has but that he'll be difficult to beat around here.

“I'm not too concerned about the wet, and would prefer the races to be in the wet as we have not had much dry track time and if the races are in the dry they could be a bit of a lottery.”

Kiyonari, who has been on the pace throughout the weekend, in both the wet and the dry, enjoyed a best lap of 1m 46.867secs, as he prepares for races in which he hopes to add to his five race winning pedigree so far this season, which have eased him into an eleven points lead over Gregorio Lavilla.

The Spaniard, who took a tumble on Friday, had a struggling time, running twelfth best, with a lap of 1m 51.464secs and that leaves him starting from the third row of the grid, while his team-mate Leon Haslam was flying the Airwaves Ducati flag by claiming a front row start.

He ran third fastest in 1m 48.534secs, while Karl Harris was enjoying his best qualifying since joining the Hydrex Honda team, with a lap of 1m 48.883secs which eased Cal Crutchlow back on the second row.

The Rizla Suzuki rider ran fifth, 1m 49.021secs, just ahead of former champion Shane Byrne whose heavy tumble two minutes from the end of the session brought out the red-flags. The Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda rider escaped injury.£ Leon Camier, Bike Animal Honda, and Tom Sykes ran marginally down on him.

Chris Walker heads up the third row, with a lap of 1m 48.814secs aboard the Rizla Suzuki, with Tommy Hill on the Virgin Media Optoma Loans Yamaha and NB Suzuki rider Ollie Bridewell between him and Lavilla.

Stuart Easton, deputising for the injured Michael Rutter aboard the Isilon MSS Discovery Kawasaki, set fourteenth best time, 1m 52.456secs, starting between Steve Plater and Scott Smart on the fourth row.

Local favourite Brian McCormack was the fastest of the British Superbike Cup qualifiers, with a lap of 1m 52.881secs on his TAG Honda, although Tristan Palmer on the THR Honda closed within a quarter of a second of him.

ends