JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam left it until the last lap, coming out of the final corner and on to the home straight to clinch a tight MCE British Superbike race-one victory from his team-mate James Ellison at the Brand Hatch Indy circuit.
In the end only 0.057s separated the pair, with the former World Superbike star getting into the slip-stream of Ellison’s ZX-10R to take his second win of the season. Bennetts Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell held on to claim his first podium of the year too, with a third place finish.
Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper finished in fourth with Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey completing the top five. Initially it was Ellison who had a stellar start and took the hole-shot from pole-setter Mossey. It was not a good start for Byrne who did start on the front row, but on the opening lap dropped back down to fifteenth at Druids.
On lap eight Mossey went into the lead at Druids, even though he went wide to get the better of Ellison. But on lap sixteen Ellison made a move going into Paddock Hill to re-take the front.
Bridewell was not giving up and a lap later the Suzuki rider made a tight move on Mossey at Paddock Hill to go into second. Cooper was also on the charge and after taking the victory in race-two at Oulton Park a few weeks previously wanted to taste the podium again and at Paddock Hill got the better of Mossey to go into third, with Haslam then overtaking Mossey with seven laps remaining.
Two rotations later the pocket rocket chased down Cooper and at Paddock Hill Bend edged in front of the BMW to soar into third. On the final lap Haslam was chasing down his team-mate after out-pacing Bridewell and managed to get into the slipstream of Ellison to snatch the win by 0.057s.
All the riders opted for the softer rear and front tyre compounds, apart from Haslam and Mossey who went for the harder front. Elsewhere Laverty, Hickman, O’Halloran finished inside the top eight. Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne managed to regain some places to end race-one in ninth with Linfoot and Iddon rounding up the top eleven, followed by ePayMe Yamaha’s John Hopkins, Irwin, Easton and Jackson who were the last of the point finishers.
Local rider Danny Buchan experienced a massive high-side at Clark Curve on lap four whilst battling inside the mid-pack, but he was fortunately declared OK at the trackside.
The Moto Rapido Ducati lad was not the only person to crash; Honda Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth, Gearlink Kawasaki’s Vittorio Iannuzzo and Anvil Hire TAG Racing’s James Rispoli all fell at Druids in the same incident, and the safety car came out on lap eleven, as the American and Italian were taken to the medical centre.
There were a few riders who did not appear on the starting grid for the race; which included Smiths Racing’s Jakub Smrz, Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy and Bennetts Suzuki’s Ryuichi Kiyonari. The trio all experienced crashes in earlier sessions and are too injured to continue this weekend. But they all hope to be back for the next round at Knockhill.
