Hodgson snatches dramatic pole

Neil Hodgson took a dramatic pole position for the European round of the World Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.  

The GSE Ducati rider ousted Scotland's Steve Hislop from the top place on the grid despite being behind for two thirds of his superpole lap.

Hodgson was down on time on the first and second split times as he flew around the circuit on his solo lap.

But then Hodgson had to wait for defending champion Colin Edwards to take to the track last of the 16 riders on superpole after the Texan had set the fastest lap earlier in qualifying on his Castrol Honda.

But Hodgson, off the pace on the first two thirds of the lap, was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief as Edwards slipped back to fourth.

Hodgson's time of one minute 26.769 seconds was marginally slower than his time earlier in the day and helped him edge past the MonsterMob Ducati of Hislop.

The 39-year-old veteran, who had claimed pole at Donington Park earlier this year, also failed to improve despite briefly holding pole before Hodgson knocked him back a place with a good run through Clearways.

American Ben Bostrom qualified an impressive third to get the better of countryman Edwards.

Hodgson's team-mate James Toseland moved up from 12th and the third row in earlier qualifying to sixth and the second row with a solid performance.

The Sheffield rider is joined on the second row by Italian Pierfrancesco Chili on the Corona Alstare Suzuki, the Red Bull Ducati of Nottingham's John Reynolds and the Aprilia of former world champion Troy Corser.

Australian Corser was down on time on both splits and slipped back one place to eighth on the grid as Bostrom displaced him.

Reynolds' team-mate Sean Emmett moved up five places to 11th as several riders performed poorly in superpole, including championship leader Troy Bayliss.

The Australian's Infostrada Ducati was blowing out oil during his warm-up lap and he could only limp home a disappointing 14th in superpole after surviving a big slide.