Byrne and Hill shine at Brands
Added on Sunday, August 7th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Byrne and Hill shine at Brands
The fight for BSB Championship honours was reignited today at Brands Hatch, as Shane Byrne and Tommy Hill each took a win.
After the weather intervened in yesterdays opening race, today was set to showcase races two and three, to see who would be in control at the end of the day. Race two kicked off today’s action, with championship leader Byrne taking the advantage.
As the race began it was pole sitter Hill who seized the opportunity for honours, as he lead the way into Paddock Hill Bend (turn one). As the field weaved their way onto the second tour Byrne made the most of a brief mistake by Joan Lascorz to slip through into third place, as he set about chasing down the lead duet.
A close battle ensued for the remainder of the outing. It wasn’t long before Byrne had found his way towards the rear of Hill’s Swan Yamaha machine, as he began to challenge for honours. By the sixth lap he had made his bid for the top spot, however Hill tried his best to regain his advantage.
A fierce tussle saw the pair launch a challenge on one another for the remainder of the race, with Byrne holding the lead just 0.580 seconds ahead of Hill as the chequered flag fell. John Hopkins worked his way through the pack to third place, in his own bid to enhance his championship chase.
Michael Laverty secured a fourth place finish in this second race, with Michael Rutter placed fifth by the flag. Yesterday’s winner Brookes could only manage sixth in today’s opening race, ahead of WSB regular Lascorz and Martin Jessopp. With two positions remaining in the top ten, the battle was won by Jon Kirkham and Peter Hickman, with the pair finishing ninth and tenth, respectively.
Hill became the third different BSB winner this weekend in race three, in a race he described to the official BSB website as ”the best ride of my season.”
Eager to hold onto the number one spot this time around, Hill took the lead off the start line. Despite a tough challenge from the chasing John Hopkins, Hill managed to hold off the opposition this time around to secure a race win at his home circuit. John Hopkins held onto second to strengthen his own title bid.
Byrne crossed the finish line in third place, after his own bout of excitement with the chasing Laverty. Some way down the road Rutter took another strong fifth place, ahead of the HM Plant Honda of Ryuichi Kiyonari. Gary mason steerd his MSS Colchester Kawasaki machine to seventh place, whilst Lascorz, Hickman and Kirkham again rounded out the top ten. This time, however, Hickman and Kirkham swapped places at the back end of the top ten.
With the 2011 championship nearing completion the fight for the title is hotting up. Byrne now leads the standings with 255 points, ahead of Hopkins with 231 points. Hill sits in third place with 210, with Laverty fourth on 163 points.
The next round is at Cadwell Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend (28-29th August). Cadwell will feature three races after the second race at Oulton Park a few weeks was cancelled due to heavy rain.
