Trying to write a report about a British Superbike race is one of the most difficult things to do, made even more difficult by the fact it takes place at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit which means these guys are flying round in a little over 45 seconds per lap!
The racing is frantic, elbow banging stuff, it’s like the difference between F1 and Touring Cars.
Shane Byrne, who’d been fast all weekend, lead from the start but didn’t have things all his own way as the Swan Yamaha’s charged to the front as well and split the HM Plant Honda’s to have Byrne, Laverty, Kiyo and Hill the top four.
Laverty made a move on Byrne and made it stick and lead the race for a while until he had a big off, high-siding, getting hit by his own bike and then getting hit by his team mate Tommy Hill as well. Rider was ok, though no doubt shook up.
The safety car was deployed for a few laps and from the restart it was Stuart Easton who took the lead but he was always under pressure from Byrne. After a ding-dong battle Bryne took the lead and lead to the finish line, Tommy Hill came through the field for an excellent ride to finish in second place whilst Stuart Easton got mugged on the line by Thomas Bridewell.
Josh Brookes had a massive high-side coming down the hill from the start/finish line and looked shook up from it. Other notable riders were Guy Martin, on a wildcard for this round only, finishing in 16th after qualifying in 27th. John Hopkins did well to end up in 17th after he had some kind of issue that forced him to stop for a while, not sure if he’d been off or not.
Race two report and results available here.
- Shane Byrne (67) – HM Plant Honda – 23.47.412
- Tommy Hill (33) – Swan Yamaha +1.154
- Thomas Bridewell (46) – Tyco Honda +2.657
- Stuart Easton (3) – MSS Colchester Kawasaki +2.764
- Jon Kirkham (10) – Samsung Crescent Racing +3.408
- Michael Rutter (6) – Rapid Solicitors Bathams Ducati +4.310
- Loris Baz (65) – Motorpoint Yamaha +4.496
- Dan Linfoot (4) – Team Sorrymate.com +5.090
- Martin Jessopp (40) – Rapid Solicitors Bathams Ducati +5.100
- Chris Walker (9) – Pr1mo Racing +7.728
- Glen Richards (45) – Team WFR (EVO) +7.920
- Alex Lowes (22) – Team WFR (EVO) +9.673
- Peter Hickman (60) – Tyco Honda +12.501
- Steve Brogan (19) – Jentin Racing Honda +12.801
- Simon Andrews (17) – PR Racing Kawasaki (EVO) +14.655
- Guy Martin (11) – Rentless Suzuki by TAS +15.886
- John Hopkins (21) – Samsung Crescent Racing +15.965
- Gary Mason (101) – MSS Colchester Kawasaki +18.784
- Patric Muff (24) – Tyco Honda (EVO) +19.777
- James Hillier (37) – Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing (EVO) +21.276
- Barry Burrell (77) – Buildbase BMW Motorrad (EVO) +22.080
- Aaron Zanotti (64) – Quattro Plant Spike Racing (EVO) +22.180
- Craig Fitzpatrick (75) – Close Print Finance/BLDS (EVO) +22.286
- Scott Smart (88) – Moto Rapiod Ducati (EVO) +22.681
- Tom Tunstall (20) – Doodson Motorsport (EVO) +29.468
