Sykes steals double at Brands
Added on Sunday, August 8th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Sykes steals double at Brands
Tom Sykes took a double victory in the second and third British Superbike races at Brands Hatch this afternoon, after drama struck the opening race of the day.
The first race of the day, and second of the weekend, saw race one winner Alastair Seeley jump into the early advantage. However shortly afterwards, Josh Brookes saw his opportunity to make a move, and launched passed into the lead. This was short lived however, when Brookes crashed off at Druids on lap three, handing control of the race over to Michael Rutter, now leading, and Seeley.
By the time lap five arrived, the red flag reared its head when a dramatic incident at Surtees saw Seeley crash off. After Seeley went down Andrew Pitt collided with Seeley’s rouge machine, immediately bringing out a race stoppage.
As the race got underway for the second time, Rutter held station at the head of the field, whilst Ryuichi Kiyonari slotted into second. The man on the move was Sykes in third, with the World Superbike regular making an appearance in the BSB for this weekend.
Progressing through the field in spectacular fashion, Sykes made his move up from third to the lead, picking off one rider at a time. Kiyonari fought his way into second, and despite shadowing Sykes for much of the closing stages he was able to fend him off for the number one spot.
With Kiyonari in second, Rutter completed the podium, ahead of Michael Laverty and James Ellison. Sixth place was awarded to Tommy Hill, with Staurt Easton, Yukio Kagayama, Dan Linfoot and Gary Mason rounding out the top ten.
Commenting on his first win of the weekend, Sykes told the official BSB website: “It’s nice to be back and that was a good race. I was pleased to get out front and we made big changes since yesterday and they clearly paid off, so thanks to the team for their hard work. We now want a repeat performance in the next one to try and make it a double.”
Michael Laverty started off the final race of the weekend in the lead, fighting off advances from Kiyonari in second place. Eager to carry on his strong performance, Sykes again started to make his way through the pack, until he was soon latched onto the Back of Kiyonari’s HM Plant Honda once again.
After following him for a number of laps, SYkes saw his chance and dived passed the Honda for the lead. Mirroring the results from race two, Rutter again completed the podium after watching the front two scrap again. This time Hill fought his way to fourth, with Ellison again in fifth, Brookes sixth and Kagayama seventh.
Easton was awarded eighth place as the chequered flag fell, whilst John Laverty crossed the line ninth and Simon Andrews tenth.
With two second place finishes, Kiyonari now holds control of the championship standings, with 249 points to Hill’s points tally of 242 in second. Brookes is in third with 239 points.
The next round of the BSB championship is at Cadwell Park over the Bank Holiday weekend (28-30th August).
