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Silverstone BSB: Brookes does the double and extends lead

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes has extended his lead in the MCE British Superbike Championship by 47 points after doing the double at Silverstone.

The Bringelly rider showed he had the pace to fight for his second win of the day and after a steady start was able to hold off the attacks from title rivals including PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne.

It is Brookes’ eleventh win of the season and fought back from as low as eighth on track, but ended with a four second lead over second and third place finishers, Laverty and Linfoot. Byrne did get the holeshot but couldn’t match the pace of Brookes, Laverty and Linfoot and finished in fifth.

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Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty and Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot were locked in an epic battle with two laps remaining for second, with the S1000RR getting the better of the Fireblade when the chequered flag appeared.

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison started off strongly and did lead for part of the race, setting a new lap record in the process - with a 2’05.267. But tyre issues appeared to be a major problem and he slipped back down the pecking order and eventually finished outside the points in seventeenth.

Ellison’s championship hopes are all but over with Brookes and Byrne the only two rider’s in with a chance of winning the series, with it all to play for going into the final round at Brands.

Initially it was Byrne who got the hole-shot from Linfoot and race-one third place finisher Hickman, but Ellison was gunning for the leading trio and found that added pace to get the better of Linfoot and Hickman to go into second.

But on lap three Ellison made a move that stuck on fellow title fighter Byrne to retake the lead. Brookes did not get the best of starts and was caught it a fight in fifth with Iddon, until he got the better of the Stockport native.

Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins had a solid start and was well inside the top ten and dicing for a possible podium finish but his Panigale came to a stop and he experienced a technical problem on lap five at Brooklands, bringing a premature end to his race weekend.

Meanwhile further up the field Ellison had a slight advantage over Byrne but Brookes found some extra pace to soar up the field and at Stowe went underneath Linfoot and Byrne to go into second.

Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty was having a good race with six laps to go and a clean overtaking move enabled the Wales-based rider to go up to fifth ahead of Iddon and team-mate Bridewell.

But on the ninth rotation Brookes was not holding back and battled his way past the JG Speedfit backed Kawasaki of Ellison at Stowe and in to the lead. Ellison fell back down the gird and was sixth with four laps to go. While all the drama was going Brookes was ploughing on in front with four seconds over the rest of the field.

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Laverty was not giving up the fight and brought it to Linfoot with the Northern Irishman going up into second coming out of the Hanger Straight on the penultimate lap. But at the flag Laverty held on to clinch second with Linfoot in third. The fight for fourth intensified with Iddon edging ahead of Byrne at Village on the final rotation. He held off Byrne to cross the line ahead of the reigning champ.

Showdown rider Bridewell finished well inside the top fifteenth in seventh, with Hickman, Jackson and Mossey completing the top ten. Honda Racing’s stand-in rider, Julien Da Costa was the last of the points finishers, with Kiyonari and Ellison ending the afternoon in sixteenth and seventeenth respectively. Hopkins was not the only rider who had an incident out on track; Smith Racing’s Billy McConnell fell unhurt at Club with seven laps remaining.

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