Byrne and Hill top Brands Podium
Added on Monday, April 25th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Byrne and Hill top Brands Podium
Shane Byrne and Tommy Hill shared the spoils at Brands Hatch this afternoon, for the British Superbike season opener.
In what turned out to be an eventful outing in race one, Byrne endured a tough battle from all around him to transfer his pole position start into victory. As the first race got underway, Michael Laverty nipped into the lead by the second lap, muscling out Byrne for the privilege.
Before long the double battle for honours had progressed into a four way fight, as Tommy Hill and Ryuichi Kiyonari joined onto the back of Byrne’s HM Plant Honda. Kiyonari soon fell foul of technical issues, when the eighth lap was the last for the reigning champion, forcing him into retirement.
A few laps down the road and leader Laverty succumbed to an incident, crashing at high speed and losing his lead. As a result, the pursuing Byrne and Hill were forced to dive out of the way, sending both of them off the track and causing the release of the safety car.
After a great deal of drama, with numerous riders crashing out, it was Byrne who eventually took the first win of the day, and his first BSB victory since 2008. Commenting on his triumph, Byrne told the official BSB website: “It was a hectic race and I got a good start and then Michael’s crash happened in slow motion right in front of me and I was lucky that I managed to miss him. That incident then bunched us all up and then I had a fight with Stuart Easton but I knew I had to get past him as soon as possible. It’s fantastic to have won the first race of the season and I can’t wait for race two now.”
Hill clawed his way back to second place, whilst the podium was completed by Tommy Bridewell. Despite qualifying further back, Stuart Eaton battled through to a fourth place finish, ahead of Jon Kirkham in fifth and Michael Rutter in sixth.
Seventh place went the way of Loris Baz, whilst Dan Linfoot, Martin Jessop and Chris Walker saw out the remaining place in the top ten.
There was a familiar sight at the front of the field for race two, as Byrne, Hill, Laverty and Kiyonari all battled for the lead. Despite the pressure from behind, Byrne held his own and fought to keep hold of the lead until lap fourteen. As the fourteenth lap approached Hill decided to steal the opportune moment, and dived passed Byrne for the lead, which he held until the chequered flag.
Determined to gain back the advantage, Byrne made a move for the lead on the penultimate lap, however ran wide as a result. As he enjoyed a brief off track excursion, Byrne’s HM Plant Honda teammate leapt passed for second place. Byrne managed to hold onto third, to make it a double trip to the podium on his BSB return.
Laverty fought a brave battle after his race one crash to finish fourth, with a distant John Hopkins and Stuart Easton following him across the finish line for fifth and sixth, respectively. Rutter completed another top ten finish by crossing the line seventh, as Linfoot again made an appearance in eighth place. Peter Hickman and Gary Mason made an impression on the top ten at this opening battle of the 2011 season, finishing ninth and tenth.
Commenting on his race two victory, Hill told the official BSB website: “It has been a long four days as it has been the most I have ridden for a while! Last week I was concerned about my elbow and I had so much treatment throughout the week to be ready for here and it paid off. It is fantastic to be leading the championship but it is only round one and it is early days still. The bike has been working well and we couldn’t have asked for a better start today. We are now looking forward to Oulton Park and getting the bike to work around what is a completely different track. Hopefully we can get there and come away with a very similar result.”
The BSB teams and riders are next out in action next weekend, 30th April -2nd May, at Oulton Park, Cheshire.
