Kirkham and Byrne share the spoils
Added on Sunday, May 15th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Kirkham and Byrne share the spoils
Jon Kirkham and Shane Byrne shared the wins at Croft today, as the British Superbike Championship enjoyed an eventful weekend at Croft circuit.
As with qualifying yesterday, the weather played an important role in the opening race today, with the start being delayed as the conditions changed. After it being deemed appropriate to start, a frantic pitlane led to the grid formation.
With the final tyre decisions made, the race began with Byrne immediately taking the lead. As the field weaved around the opening few tours they all began to swap and change their positions. Before long drama struck for leader Byrne, when a technical problem forced him into early retirement, also causing the release of the safety car.
At the restart John Hopkins took over the lead, until a charging Jon Kirkham was right on his tail for honours. Despite starting from 16th on the grid, Kirkham fired his way through the pack to eventually steal the lead in the closing stages. Kirkham held onto the advantage across the finish line to win his very first BSB race, whilst his Samsung Crescent Racing teammate Hopkins made it a one-two finish in second.
Gary Mason completed the podium in third, ahead of Loris Baz and Alex Lowes, who also won the Mirror.co.uk Evo class. Sixth place was held by Stuart Easton, with Peter Hickman seventh and Josh Brookes in eighth. Glen Richards and Tommy Bridewell rounded out the top ten, as many of the regular frontrunners suffered problems.
Commenting on his first BSB victory, Kirkham told the official BSB website: “I honestly can’t believe it; that was the scariest race of my life in terms of deciding on tyres and the changing conditions but what a race! I was lucky to be fair with the pace car as it gave me the chance to close the gap up and it was pretty loose out there. I had a few moments and (John Hopkins) was riding amazingly, pushing me all the way. This was a fantastic result as we had such a hard start to the weekend.”
As race two got underway it was Mason who led the way this time around. By the start of the second lap, Byrne had muscled his way through to the front, taking the advantage from Mason at Clervaux (turn one).
The safety car again made an appearance in race two, after Kirkham and Michael Laverty collided, both crashing into retirement. As the race restarted Byrne stretched out his lead at the front, holding onto the privilege for the duration.
After battling his way through the field, Easton eventually secured a strong second place finish to enhance is championship charge, whilst Hopkins returned to the podium in third.
Brookes enjoyed a stronger showing this time around, taking the chequered flag in fourth place, some way ahead of Baz in fifth. Tommy Hill had a more positive outing this time out to finish sixth, with Mason seventh and Michael Rutter eighth. Hickman again featured in the top ten in ninth, whilst Bridewell completed the top ten once again.
Byrne is now leading the championship standings by just three points, as he holds 95 points to Hopkins’ 92 points in second place. Easton is third with a total of 89 points.
The next round is at the fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, over the weekend of 28-30th May.
