Briton Neil Hodgson has got his bid for a first World Superbike victory of the season off to a good start at his home race by securing pole position at Brands Hatch.

Hodgson, from Burnley, took advantage of a fall by runaway championship leader Troy Bayliss to head off American Colin Edwards by more than a quarter of a second.

Hodgson smashed the motorbike lap record at the Kent track with a lap of one minute 25.752 seconds on his HM Plant Ducati.

He said: "With a crowd like this behind me there was no way that I was going to miss out on pole.

"I'm glad that I could give them what they wanted and I'm not about to stop now.

"I knew that the lap was a good one - it had to be to beat Edwards - but I think that there were one or two corners where I could have opened the throttle a little earlier."

British wildcard rider Michael Rutter was third on his Renegade Ducati ahead of Bayliss.

It was an impressively brave performance from the Australian.

He collided with his Ducati Infostrada team-mate Ruben Xaus when on a warm-up lap during the final qualifying session.

Bayliss slid off and crashed into a tyre barrier.

Bayliss suffered back and rib damage but dragged himself back onto his bike to compete in the Superpole session.

Hodgson's English team-mate James Toseland, from Sheffield, was sixth while Fuchs Kawasaki's Chris Walker was 10th, just behind wildcard Shane Byrne.

Texan Edwards said he had not targeted Hodgson's time and was only chasing Rutter's mark of 1:26.771.

He said: I was the last to go in Superpole and Hodgson was already on his fast lap so I was just concerned with beating the best time on the TV screen in the garage and getting on the front row."

Leading positions on grid for 10th round of the World Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch:

1 Neil Hodgson (GB) Ducati one minute 25.752 seconds
2 Colin Edwards (USA) Honda 1:26.050
3 Michael Rutter (GB) Ducati 1:26.771
4 Troy Bayliss (Aus) Ducati 1:26.801
5 Pier-Francesco Chili (Ita) Ducati 1:26.871
6 James Toseland (GB) Ducati 1:26.970
7 Juan Borja (Spa) Ducati 1:26.987
8 Ben Bostrom (USA) Ducati 1:27.036
9 Shane Byrne (GB) Ducati, 1:27.162
10 Chris Walker (GB) Kawasaki 1:27.170

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