Irish rider Jonathan Rea shattered the Mondello Park lap record to put his Red Bull Honda on pole for the fifth round of the British Superbike Championship.

The 18-year-old from Ballyclare is the youngest ever rider to top qualifying in the series and his decisive lap came in the last minute of a hectic session.

"It is great, but now I will have to concentrate hard in the races," he said of his time of 1 minute 39.344 seconds.

Glen Richards was second, ahead of Leon Haslam and Ryuichi Kiyonari.

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Leading qualifying positions:

1 Jonathan Rea (Gbr) Honda 1min 39.344secs
2 Glen Richards (Aus) Kawasaki 1:39.475
3 Leon Haslam (Gbr) Ducati 1:39.518
4 Ryuichi Kiyonari (Jpn) Honda 1:39.649
5 Michael Rutter (Gbr) Honda 1:39.724
6 Michael Laverty (Gbr) Honda 1:39.874
7 Gregorio Lavilla (Spa) Ducati 1:39.903
8 Gary Mason (Gbr) Honda 1:40.077
9 Karl Harris (Gbr) Honda 1:40.097
10 Dean Thomas (Aus) Kawasaki 1:40.192

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