Hill and Brookes share Cadwell spoils
Added on Monday, August 30th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Hill and Brookes share Cadwell spoils
Tommy Hill and Josh Brookes took another step towards the 2010 British Superbike title at Cadwell Park this afternoon, each grasping one win each.
As the first of two races got underway, Brookes jumped into the lead ahead of Hill, while Michael Laverty initially settled into third place.
During the opening laps Hill stayed close to Brookes, looking for the ideal opportunity to dive passed for the lead. By lap eight the opportunity presented itself, and Hill soon launched into the top spot, leaving Brookes to play the shadowing game.
Whilst the top two chased one another around, the battle for third began to hot up, with the position changing a number of times. After dropping to sixth place at the start, Ryuichi Kiyonari fought back through the field, and eventually wrestled third place from Laverty’s grasp.
As Hill and Brookes swept passed the chequered flag for the first time, their championship hopes were re-ignited in fine fashion, while Kiyonari made it two HM Plant Honda riders on the podium once again. Hill’s win represented the first win for the Worx Crescent Suzuki team at Cadwell Park since 2004.
Michael Laverty held onto fourth place, while Michael Rutter and James Ellison followed him in fifth and sixth. Yukio Kagayama swept through the seventh place, while Alastair Seeley, Dan Linfoot and Stuart Easton completed the top ten. Tommy Bridewell originally finished ninth, however was later excluded from the result after a collision with John Laverty on the final tour.
Looking back over his first win since Thruxton, Hill told the official BSB website: “It is nice to be back on the top step again; it has been a long time since Thruxton but that is what we needed and three podium credits is good for me and the team. We regrouped this weekend and worked hard on the settings and it paid off. We have had some ups and downs but now we are back on top and we need to do the same in race two.”
In the second outing, Josh Brookes came through to triumph in a race cut short by chaos. After getting the jump on his rivals from the off, Brookes took the lead straight away again, however a move from Hill in the opening stages meant Brookes was forced to run wide, also allowing teammate Kiyonari through into second.
With the top three all eager to take the win to enhance their championship charge, the race at the front really began to hot up. After following Kiyonari for a number of laps, Brookes made the move for second, before chasing down leader Hill. It wasn’t too much longer before Brookes had worked his way through into the lead, leaving his chief rivals to play catch up.
As they weaved around to complete the second race of the day, a heavy crash from James Edmeades with four laps to go brought out the red flag, crowning Brookes at race two winner, with Hill second and Kiyonari third.
Behind, Michael Laverty finished fourth, with Rutter fifth, Ellison sixth and Kagayama seventh. Bridewell finished eighth this time around, while Seeley and Gary Mason completed the top ten.
Commenting on his win, Brookes told the official BSB website: “For race two we made the bike stiffer at both ends and the balance was good so I knew we had a good shot. I didn’t get the perfect start and I was behind Kiyo and Tommy, but our pace was much faster than race one and I put a pass on both of them through the Hall Bends section and I knew Tommy would try and have a go back but I thought we had the pace to hold him off and then the red flag came out. It feels good to win again as that was always the goal and now we focus on the Showdown.”
It is now very close at the top of the championship standings, with Kiyonari and Hill equal on 525 points, whilst Brookes is breathing down their necks with 524 points with three rounds remaining.
