Josh Brookes doubles Cadwell – Billy McConnell on the podium
Josh Brookes delivered an imperious performance at Cadwell Park with a double race win to maintain his winning momentum in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship with just the triple-header at Oulton Park now remaining before the title-deciding Showdown.
The Milwaukee Yamaha rider had blitzed the lap record to secure his third pole start of the season and he carried his pace into the two races. In the opening race the Australian had hit the front of the pack ahead of Luke Mossey on the Quattro Plant Kawasaki, but his charge was briefly halted when the Nissan GT-R Safety Car was deployed after Be Wiser Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan crashed at the Mountain. The 22-year-old was unhurt in the crash but saw his hopes of his best result of the season dashed.
Brookes re-established his advantage when the race resumed, setting the fastest lap of the race as he claimed the victory ahead of Peter Hickman who enjoyed his first podium finish of the season at his home circuit, aboard the RAF Reserves BMW.
Billy McConnell powered the Smiths BMW team and himself to their first ever podium in the top class as the reigning Motorpoint British Supersport champion finished third after an incredible last lap move on Tommy Bridewell at the bottom of the Mountain.
Billy McConnell – “The first race was great, it’s always disappointing when you don’t get a podium second time but I’m still really, really happy. To get my first British Superbike podium is something really special and it’s a great way to pay back the team. Everyone has worked so hard and put so much effort into this, so to be able to reward them now with this podium is perfect. Now I’m looking ahead to Oulton Park as there are three races there so I’m hoping to get another taste of standing on the podium. Now I’ve been there, I want to keep going back.”
Bridewell was pushed all the way by his Tyco BMW team-mate Michael Laverty and Shane Byrne, whose woes continued for a second round as he struggled in sixth place on the PBM Kawasaki.
Aboard the PBM Kawasaki ZX-10R, the reigning and four-time champion was able to salvage two results after a difficult start to the race weekend at the iconic Lincolnshire track, and says he now wants to move on and look ahead to the next round of the series.
Byrne was the only rider in action for the PBM squad at Cadwell Park as Stuart Easton continues to recover from his Brands Hatch crash last month, and the Londoner was hoping the annual trip to Cadwell Park would bring better fortune than his last outing at Thruxton.
But the weekend got off to a bad start as he struggled during free practice, ending the opening day tenth fastest and more than a second adrift of his nearest rival. The team worked hard overnight and came back fighting for qualifying yesterday whereby Byrne had to settle for a fourth row grid spot in 11th position for the first race.
The opening MCE BSB race turned out to be a rather sedate affair for the reigning champion. Despite picking up three places at the start, he sat in eighth for the first eight laps before moving to seventh and then, on the final lap, he made a move to grab sixth.
For race two, Shakey lined up in sixth and got himself another good start as he moved up to fourth. Despite dropping to fifth soon after, he kept a steady head, catching and passing the rider in front on the 12th lap to retake fourth, a spot he held comfortably all the way to the flag.
Despite not adding to his Podium Points tally, Byrne has comfortably qualified for the end of season ‘Showdown’ whereby he is hoping to be joined by Stuart Easton upon his return at the next round.
Shane Byrne: “It’s really difficult to be positive if I look just at my results but at the same time if I look back to where I was on Friday when I just wanted to go home because I wasn’t feeling it at all, then I have to think that we have made some decent steps forward. The team worked so hard for me this weekend to try and find the solutions but we still aren’t where we should be. If I’m trying to quantify how happy I am on results then obviously I’m not very happy at all, but I feel generally that the progress we’ve made over the course of the weekend has been good and I’m pretty pleased with that. Obviously I don’t go racing for fourth and sixth places and neither does the PBM team, and right now we need a bike that can win again. I’ve been training hard since the last round and I know I’ve worked my nuts off so we need to all go back and look at what we can do to come back at Oulton Park at our best.”
Phil Borley, PBM Kawasaki Technical Director: “It’s been another difficult weekend where we haven’t been able to give Shakey a bike he feels comfortable and confident with. We made some changes on Friday and Saturday and eventually he did get some improvement but it’s still a long way off where any of us want to be. Obviously we’re all disappointed not to score any podium credits this weekend, but we’re now going to assess the bike and we think maybe there is a problem with the chassis. We will investigate this further and get it sorted out ahead of Oulton Park. We know Shakey goes well around there and we want to be fit and ready to fight back when we get there.”
Christian Iddon salvaged a hard-fought-for top-10 finish onboard his Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the opening race. Iddon had started the weekend strongly and was third fastest after Friday’s second free practice session. However, in keeping with the run of bad luck that has plagued the team at recent rounds, the weekend took a turn for the worse in qualifying when a crash in Q2 robbed him of the chance to start on the front three rows. Starting from 16th on the grid at a track that is notoriously difficult to pass at, Iddon worked hard to come through the field to finish ninth in race one.
A 12th placed grid-spot still left him with work to do in race two, but Iddon soon found himself embroiled in a battle for seventh after some impressive overtaking manoeuvres. Sadly, he saw his hard work undone when he missed a gear going into the hairpin that dropped him to the back of the group. He recovered, but could only claim 13th at the chequered flag.
Christian Iddon – 9th & 13th – “16th to ninth wasn’t too bad in race one and I felt we could have at least had seventh in the last race. I felt comfortable and had made a couple of passes, but I missed a gear and dropped right back; it’s just one of those things. It’s frustrating, but the whole weekend’s been frustrating after the pace we had on Friday and Saturday morning. We’ll keep working for Oulton Park and hopefully we’ll get a little bit of luck too.”
It was a difficult weekend for Josh Waters onboard the second Bennetts Suzuki: After some difficulty finding a good base-setting for the Australian, the team made a breakthrough at the previous round at Thruxton. Sadly the unique and demanding nature of the Cadwell circuit made it difficult for the team to find a set-up that worked for Waters and he finished 17th in each of the two races.
Josh Waters – 17th & 17th – “It was a really tough weekend and one to put behind us. We didn’t get anything to click today and after the progress and the result we achieved at Thruxton it’s disappointing to follow-it-up with today’s results. Now we’ll look ahead to Oulton, where we’ve been before as a team, so we have some data to work from and we’ll look for an improvement there.”
Martin Halsall – Team Suzuki Owner – “It’s been a bit of a weekend to forget, to be honest. We’re a new team but we’ve been making progress over the last few rounds and we’ve really been able to show our potential, despite the results not reflecting that promise. Cadwell Park is a difficult track to come to and go fast at but we looked like we were on for a good weekend again with Christian, and maybe in with a shout of the podium. But that bad luck that’s been following us around struck again in qualifying and put-paid to any hopes of a good result.
“On Josh’s side of the garage we’ve struggled to get the best from him and the bike together. We made some big steps at Thruxton but we took a few backwards here at Cadwell on a circuit that is very difficult to set the bike up for. But we’ll chalk this one down to experience and set our sights on a couple of good results at Oulton Park.”
Brookes provided an action replay next time out, leading the pack while behind him Hickman returned to the podium in second place with a neat move at Mansfield on the final lap to ease Bridewell back into third ahead of Byrne, Mossey and McConnell.
Brookes now leads Byrne by 39 points in the overall standings and just four in the all-important Podium Points score. The leading pair have both already qualified for the final three round Showdown, but the scrap for the final four places is set to intensify in the decisive triple-header next round at Oulton Park (4/5/6 September).m
Josh Brookes – (Milwaukee Yamaha) – “I worked really hard at the start of the first race to make a gap and then I saw the Safety Car come out and I knew I had to get back on the gas straight away and make the gap again. I always ride better on my own smooth lines and I just wanted to stay ahead. The bike feels like an extension of my body at the moment – I am sure it appears easy but it isn’t!
“I just wanted to get out the front in race two and then not let up and keep going. It is easy to make mistakes and lose concentration. I wanted to be smooth and calculated so I kept it pinned and rode it to the flag. I am really pleased for the Milwaukee Yamaha team and everything is all working really well now so we are looking forward to Oulton Park.”
Race one
1: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha)
2: Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW) +1.878s
3: Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing BMW) +3.557s
4: Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) +3.831s
5: Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +3.977s
6: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) +4.128s
Race two
1: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha)
2: Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW) +5.089s
3: Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) +5.264s
4: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) +5.422s
5: Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) +10.177s
6: Billy McConnell (Smiths Racing BMW) +14.333s
Championship standings
1: Josh Brookes (Milwaukee Yamaha) 316
2: Shane Byrne (PBM Kawasaki) 277
3: James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 147
4: Tommy Bridewell (Tyco BMW) 141
5: Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki) 139
6: Michael Laverty (Tyco BMW) 126
Dixon heads off Stapleford to win Supersport thriller
Jake Dixon held off the Motorpoint British Supersport Championship leader Luke Stapleford to win a feature race thriller as Kyle Ryde returned to the podium in third.
Smiths Triumph’s Dixon made the break on the opening lap with Ryde in close contention ahead of Glenn Irwin and James Rispoli whilst Stapleford was pushing to regain the ground he lost at the start of the race.
Ryde powered his PacedayZ Trackdays Yamaha ahead on the second lap while Stapleford was re-grouping but he then made up three places in one smart move to be running third by the sixth lap.
Dixon upped his pace and hassled Ryde, taking the lead from him on the eighth lap with Stapleford close behind in third on the Profile Triumph. Ryde regained the lead on the thirteenth lap and next time around he we powerless to halt Stapleford as he swooped through from third to first.
Dixon was far from finished, pushing back in front of Stapleford on the penultimate lap and holding firm to take the victory by 0.130s from the series leader. Ryde finished third, half a second down, with James Rispoli a distant fourth on the Team Traction Control Yamaha ahead of the Gearlink Kawasaki trio of Ben Wilson, Luke Hedger and Glenn Irwin.
Motorpoint British Supersport Championship, Cadwell Park, feature race result
1: Jake Dixon (Smiths Triumph)
2: Luke Stapleford (Profile Triumph) +0.130s
3: Kyle Ryde (PacedayZ Trackdays Yamaha) +0.542s
4: James Rispoli (Team Traction Control Yamaha) +10.348s
5: Ben Wilson (Gearlink Kawasaki) +11.517s
Motorpoint British Supersport Championship standings
1: Luke Stapleford (Profile Triumph) 314
2: Kyle Ryde (PacedayZ Trackdays Yamaha) 277
3: Glenn Irwin (Gearlink Kawasaki) 223
4: Jake Dixon (Smiths Triumph) 203
5: James Rispoli (Team Traction Control Yamaha) 14
Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship
The race was decided over five laps after a restart and Josh Elliott moved his Morello Racing Kawasaki ahead of the early leader and pole starter Alastair Seeley on the third lap before charging to victory. He now holds a 32 points lead in the title stakes over the Tyco BMW rider. Joe Burns tipped out of third place on his Aprilia with Hudson Kennaugh completing the podium finishers.
Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship
Mason Law had the edge to tighten his grip on the title chase with a lead of 48 points leaving Cadwell Park as his three of main rivals crashed out of contention. Pole-starter Tarran Mackenzie went down on the opening lap at Park, Ben Currie tipped out of second at the Mountain and then Joe Francis, who had earlier broken the lap record, crashed out of third on the last lap at the Hairpin. Law kept going to win by two seconds from Jordan Weaving with Andy Irwin third.
Ben Currie had been running at the front at lap record pace before clipping the kerb at the boottom of the mountain section, the Australian crashing unhurt from 3rd while fighting for the lead. Despite the crash Currie remains 2nd overall in the championship standings but has lost valuable points Mason Law who now leads by 48 points with 3 races remaining.
Ben Currie – DNF – “What a character building weekend. Struggled to put it inside the top 10 in qualifying before managing to qualify 5th in the last minutes was a relief. In the race I took off with the guys at the front and challenged from the get go. I was looking for a way through to the lead, made a slight mistake and got pushed back to third. Shortly after dropping to 3rd I clipped the kerb at the bottom of the mountain and that was the end of my race. From a championship point of view we can still win but I think all realistic hope went when I fell. Devastated doesn’t really describe how I feel right now! Big thanks as ever to Craig and the whole team – I will keep fighting till the end”
Santander Consumer Finance British Junior Cup – Sunday race one
A re-started race over five laps saw James Nagy set the early pace but Cameron Fraser was on the charge, snatching the lead on the third lap. Chris Taylor though was fighting back and he took over at the front on the penultimate lap, and defended hard to win by half a second. Fraser ran second ahead of Nagy and Daniel Drayton.
Ducati TriOptions Cup – race two
Rob Guiver led throughout but second best was just enough for Leon Morris to regain the lead in the title stakes ahead of Saturday’s race-winner Robbie Brown who was sidelined at the start by a technical problem. Phil Atkinson ran third ahead of Sean Neary and Dennis Hobbs.
HEL Performance British Motostar Championship
Dutchman Scott Deroue sealed the victory to claim the championship as he led throughout the wet final race of the day in which Saturday’s race winner Taz Taylor crashed early on. Joel Boerboom ran second ahead of Richard Kerr who took his first ever podium finish in the championship. In the 125GP category, Josh Owens increased his lead in the series with victory ahead of Andrew Sawford.
