British Superbike heads to Brand Hatch
Four-time MCE Insurance British Superbike champion Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne heads to his home round of Brands Hatch in Kent this weekend (17/18/19 April) as standings leader. However the PBM Kawasaki rider, who hails from nearby Sittingbourne, faces growing opposition from an international field of rivals ready to beat him in his back yard.
Byrne was victorious in race two at the Donington Park season opener after an intense battle with Dan Linfoot, as the 2013 title-winning Honda Racing team returned to the grid. James Ellison grabbed the win in race one after fending off Byrne for the duration.
Byrne said: “It doesn’t seem like five minutes ago I was thinking about if I could even ride at the Donington Park test before the first round after my injury, so Donington exceeded any expectations I did have. To come away with a second place and a win, knowing that I can only get stronger as my injury improves, means I am quietly confident of achieving more of the same at Brands Hatch.
“I am not going to lie, I am still really rusty and because of that I was making rookie mistakes in the races at Donington, but I know that it is going to be even closer on the Indy circuit, so we will be doing everything possible to try and have a repeat performance – if not one better this weekend!”
Ellison said: “Brands Hatch is going to be so important to qualify on the front two rows because the times are going to be much closer because of the short lap. The Indy circuit closes everyone up so small mistakes cost you more, but we are ready. Last year we were happy to leave the first round with podiums and now we are coming off podiums from the last three rounds if you include Silverstone and Brands Hatch last year. Now anything but a win is not good enough, we wanted them at Donington and I still feel like we had something in reserve if we needed it. I can’t wait!”
The Donington Park race winners have an uphill battle if they are going to achieve a repeat performance; 26-year-old Linfoot came agonisingly close to scoring his first race win in MCE BSB at Donington Park, whilst Josh Brookes and the new Milwaukee Yamaha proved they are going to be a force to be reckoned with after a debut podium.
Brookes had an impressive start to the season with a third place in the opening race at Donington Park, scoring the new YZF-R1 its first podium finish in the championship in its debut race. Brookes was pushing for a repeat performance in race two, but he was forced to take evasive action after Ryuichi Kiyonari crashed in front of him, leaving him fighting back through the pack to claim sixth place. The Australian contender is now ready to push for more at Brands Hatch this weekend.
Josh Brookes – “I think we should be pretty good at Brands Hatch because we have ridden Alcarras in Spain when the bike was new, and then we went to Cartagena, then we went to Donington Park for the test and then the race. Throughout that period we have made a lot of changes to the bike, but it has reacted consistently over the different tracks we have gone to so I think we should be able to go to Brands Hatch and not have to turn everything upside down with the setting.
“It will still be tough at Brands Hatch, all of the teams will get stronger and we will have a lot of competition on the track, so we have to improve at a faster rate than them and hopefully because we are on a new bike I think it will improve. Putting it all into the big picture we feel confident for Brands Hatch but we still have to take it day by day.”
Parkes had been building momentum during the opening BSB weekend, but had a tough pair of races with a 16th place and then crashing out of race two whilst moving up the pack. The former World Supersport title runner-up has scored podium finishes at the Kent circuit on a wildcard appearance in the past, and is confident of stronger results on the 1.2-mile Indy circuit.
Broc Parkes – “After Donington Park I really want to make up for it at Brands Hatch this weekend. Normally it is a good track for me, although I have never raced on the Indy layout. I have had good results in the past in the World Championship and when I was a wildcard before so I am hoping we can go there and use what we have learnt from the first round and hopefully be stronger again. It has all been positive so far, it is just that it didn’t quite work out at Donington.”
Triple champion Ryuichi Kiyonari endured a disappointing weekend despite setting the pace in free practice and qualifying at Donington Park; a 14th position and a crash has left the Japanese ace determined to make amends at Brands Hatch this weekend.
Kiyonari said: “I couldn’t believe the races at Donington Park, especially after practice and qualifying. We had tried hard in every session to have a good pace for the race and then we didn’t have good results and I was disappointed. I want to fight again for podiums and for wins. I know I have to get podiums at Brands Hatch after not having good results at Donington Park. This makes me want to try even harder this weekend.”
Despite being under the weather at the opening round, Christian Iddon showed both his and the Bennetts Suzuki GSX-R1000’s potential with an excellent fifth place in race two, and will be looking to continue that form and push for podium finishes this weekend on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.
His team-mate Josh Waters spent much of the Donington Park round struggling with set-up on his GSX-R1000, but still made positive steps over the course of the weekend. The double Australian Superbike Champion and the team have continued the hard work they started at the opening round, and will arrive at Brands Hatch with an improved package.
Christian Iddon: “I quite like the Brands Indy circuit. It’s a funny little track and I expect everyone to be close on lap times. It also means we can get plenty of laps in and hopefully get a good set-up early on. We had some issues at Donington that didn’t allow me to be consistent, but we made some small changes for race two which helped no end, so I’m interested to see if they work for Brands. If they do we’ll have a really good base-setting to work from. We want to be pushing for wins, but I’ll be happy this weekend with two solid finishes if we keep progressing the bike. But once we have it right I don’t see any reason why we can’t be at the front.”
Josh Waters: “I’m looking forward to it this weekend. It’s a small circuit but you get to do lots of laps in practice as it’s such a low lap time, which is good for us as we still have some issues to work out. The team has worked hard since Donington and we can see where we were struggling, so they have some ideas to try this weekend and hopefully we’ll make a big step. But I’m looking forward to getting back out on the bike. It’s going to be tough and it’s a hard track to pass on, but we’re ready to go.”
Jack Valentine – Bennetts Suzuki Team Manager: “I think it’s going to be an exciting weekend and it’s going to be a weekend of tight margins. We’re relatively pleased with our start from Donington and want to build on that this weekend. We’ve got two guys who can run at the front when we get the set-up right for them. Our target is to qualify our Yoshimura-powered Bennetts Suzukis on the front two rows on Saturday. It’s such a big grid and a strong field, and on such a short track it’s important to get away at the start. But if we can do that and move the bike’s development on in the right direction, we know we have two riders that are capable of challenging for the podium.”
Peter Hickman (RAF Reserves BMW), Stuart Easton (PBM Kawasaki), and the Tyco BMW pairing of Michael Laverty and Tommy Bridewell are all set to be in the mix on the 1.2-mile Indy circuit. Essex youngster Danny Buchan and Chris Walker riding for 2011 champion Tommy Hill’s Be Wiser Kawasaki team should also be in the hunt for podiums.
