Kyle Smith (Dynavolt Triumph) claimed his first Quattro Group British Supersport Championship win on Sunday when he took the 10-lap Sprint race at Brands Hatch.

Jack Kennedy (HEL Performance/Bournemouth Kawasaki) took a close second and took over the championship lead after previous leader Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) crashed out at Surtees on the opening lap. Eunan McGlinchey (Gearlink Kawasaki) finished third for his maiden Supersport podium.

Making his Brands debut, Smith grabbed the holeshot from the second row but the race was only half a lap old when Perie crashed with Ben Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki) forced into evasive action and by the end of lap two, Smith held a 2.2s lead over Charlie Nesbitt (RS Racing Kalex) and Kennedy.

The Dubliner moved ahead of Nesbitt at the start of the third lap but McGlinchey was up to fourth and on the move, putting the GP2 Cup machine of Nesbitt under extreme pressure as Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) kept a watching brief in fifth.

Smith’s lead was cut to 1.7s by Kennedy as they started the fourth lap and McGlinchey slid up the inside of Nesbitt at Paddock Hill Bend to take over the final podium position. Currie, meanwhile, had fought his way back up to seventh.

The front three had pulled away by half race distance with Smith holding onto his 1.7s advantage and Kennedy enjoying a slightly bigger gap to McGlinchey but the battle for fourth was hotting up with the running order now Mason Law (Spirit Motocorsa), Nesbitt, Currie and Johnston.

As the race entered its second half, Kennedy began to put the squeeze on Smith and cut the deficit to 1.1s but the latter immediately responded and added another tenth to his lead on the seventh lap. McGlinchey was still going well in third but Johnston was struggling and had dropped back tenth.

The penultimate lap saw the leaders encounter some traffic and Smith didn’t hesitate and although Kennedy quickly found his way through, the former had done enough to claim his first British Championship win, the gap 0.37s at the chequered flag..

McGlinchey took an excellent third with Law not only claiming fourth from Nesbitt but also the maximum points in the GP2 Cup. Currie was close behind in sixth with Cameron Horsman (Chassis Factory), the third placed GP2 Cup rider in seventh overall. Rhys Irwin (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha), Jack Scott (JJ Racing Harris) and Dan Jones (iForce Lloyd & Jones Spirit) completed the top ten.

Johnston ended up 11th, one place ahead of Korie McGreevy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha) who started from pit lane due to a spill in morning warm-up.

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