Be Wiser Ducati rider Shane Byrne threw down the gauntlet to the rest of his title rivals as he took the MCE British Superbike race one victory at Brands Hatch.
But it is JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam who still leads the championship as he finished fourth in the opening event at the Kent track, but his advantage has been reduced to 21 points. Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon managed to match the pace of Byrne to clinch second.
In the end Byrne had a 1.75 second advantage over the Stockport lad, with Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha’s Josh Brookes completing the podium and taking away some valuable points in third.
Initially it was Brookes who got the hole-shot only for Iddon to go into the lead at the start of lap two going into Paddock Hill, followed by Haslam, Byrne and O’Halloran. In terms of tyres, all the riders opted for the softer rear tyres including Haslam but with 17 laps remaining the race was red flagged.
At Clark Curve four riders crashed as it appeared there was oil on the circuit. In the melee the riders who went down were showdown rider, Jake Dixon, Sylvain Guintoli, Martin Jessopp, Michael Rutter and Dan Linfoot. All the riders walked away from the incident, but none that hit the tarmac made it out again.
At the restart it was Iddon who got the hole-shot with Haslam, Brookes, Laverty and Brookes close by. Then at Paddock Hill Byrne overtook Haslam on lap two to go up to second, then went in the lead at Surtees.
Laverty was going well in fourth but then went wide at Surtees allowing Brookes and Ellison to gain a place on lap four. Then at Dingle Dell Haslam was overtaken by Brookes with 11 laps remaining and then Ellison got the better of Haslam at Clearways. But Haslam fought back and overtook Ellison to take fourth and managed to hold on to that position as he crossed the finishing line. But the Cumbrian rider pushed him all the way.
Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran also gained pace on the duelling Ellison and Haslam but could not make an overtaking move that stuck. At the end of the 20 lapper the Fireblade racer ended the first race in sixth. Fellow showdown rider Smiths BMW’s Peter Hickman beat his team-mate Lee Jackson to clinch seventh with Bradley Ray and Richard Cooper completing the top ten.
Tommy Bridewell, Luke Mossey, Jakub Smrz, James Westmoreland and Kyle Ryde all ended the race inside the points. For Ryde it is his debut BSB race and he is riding in place of Billy McConnell on the FS-3 Kawasaki. Elsewhere it looked like Be Wiser Ducati’s Glenn Irwin had a technical problem with his Panigale and pulled into the pits whilst he was tenth.
