Brookes battles to another win
Added on Saturday, July 17th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Brookes battles to another win
Josh Brookes gained the upper hand in the first of three races at Snetterton this afternoon, stealing the victory from teammate Ryuichi Kiyonari in the dying seconds.
After the final race at Knockhill was cancelled due to rain just two weeks ago, it was deemed the best option to run it during this next round at Snetterton. Rain threatened to play a large part again this afternoon, when the race was yet again red flagged due to the weather conditions. It wasn’t long before the weather was back on the side of the BSB fraternity, and the race could be restarted.
At the third attempt of this race, it was Kiyonari who gained the advantage off of the line, immediately launching into the lead. Despite immense pressure from Michael Laverty, Alastair Seeley and Tommy Hill, the HM Plant Honda rider controlled the pace as the laps ticked downwards. Brookes suffered a slow getaway, leaving him ninth by the end of the first tour; however it wasn’t long before he was muscling his way through the traffic.
Before too long, Brookes was hot on the tail of chief championship rival Hill. After shadowing his Worx Crescent Suzuki for a short while he saw his opportunity to gain an advantage.
Now with nothing but clear track between him and teammate Kiyonari, Brookes was closing the gap, eager to steal the position away from him. After trailing the similar machine for much of the closing laps, the final tour presented the ideal opportunity, when Brookes launched passed his unsuspecting teammate, to take the victory and extend his new championship lead.
Kiyonari backed up another one-two finish for the HM Plant Honda outfit, with Hill completing the podium in third. Brookes now leads the BSB standings with 191 points, to Hill’s 178, with Kiyonari in third with 168 points.
With the top three places taken care of, Michael Rutter was next up in fourth, just ahead of Seeley and Michael Laverty. James Ellison enjoyed a better outing, ending it with a seventh place finish, two seconds ahead of Simon Andrews. The remainder of the top ten saw Gary Mason and Tommy Bridewell both feature, finishing just inches apart.
The regular double header of races will take part tomorrow, during Sunday’s usual race programme.
