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Brands BSB: Ellison breaks lap record on way to race one win

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison dominated the opening MCE British Superbike race to take the victory at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, safely securing the race win, and setting a new lap record, of a 45.313 too. It was a lights-to-flag victory for the Cumbrian and even though the safety car made a regular appearance throughout the first race, the pole-setter kept a cool head and charged ahead to place his ZX-10R on to the top step of the podium.

There was a rush for the remaining rostrum spots, but in the end PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne snatched second with Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes taking advantage of the safety car, to edge ahead of Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari. 0.02 seconds separated the pair as they crossed the line – with the Bringelly rider cementing his place on the final podium step.

The lap record that has been held for eight years by Gregorio Lavilla was finally broken, first by Kiyonari and then Ellison on the eighth rotation. A third of the way through the race the top three consisted of Ellison, Kiyo and Byrne with Brookes and Easton fighting for fourth. On the thirteen lap Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran found that added pace to battle up the sharp end and soon had Brookes has his next target.

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With seven lap remaining Brookes was edging ever closer to the Kawasaki of Byrne. But then RAF Reserves BMW’s Peter Hickman succumbed to the Indy track, and had a large crash at Clearways, bring out the safety car as debris fell out on the circuit. Three extra laps had to be added on as the safety car was out until the 29th rotation, paving the way for the riders to have a last lap dash. Hickman was then taken to the medical centre.

There was a real scrap on the final lap to bag the remaining podium spots, and on the penultimate corner Byrne and Brookes pushed past Kiyo to nick second and third respectively, with the Japanese rider and O’Halloran completing the top five. PBM Kawasaki’s Stuart Easton, Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Broc Parks, McConnell and Walker completed the top ten.

Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty comfortably made his way into the points, followed closely by Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan and Bennetts Suzuki’s Josh Waters who rounded off the point finishers.

Initially it was Ellison who got the hole-shot on the opening lap but the yellow flags came straight out after a crash at the Cooper Straight involving Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon, Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy and Danish rider Robbin Harms. Dubliner Kennedy was declared OK at the trackside but Iddon and Harms were taken to the medical centre for further assessment.

But things were going from bad to worse for the Team WD-40, as Taylor Mackenzie, fell unhurt at Clearways. Smrz did not have the best of starts as he was on P2 for the start of the race. He fell back to tenth but as he began clawing his way up into the top five, he had a massive high side at Paddock Hill, but was declared OK at the trackside.

Tyco BMW’s Tommy Bridewell crashed at Druids on lap 24 of 30, and is currently being assessed. Veteran racer Michael Rutter, Zanotti, Lo Turco and Backlund all retired to the pits with what appeared to be technical issues. All the riders who visited the medical centre have been passed fit to take part in race two, even Iddon who has slightly fractured a bone in the back of his leg.

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