Josh Brookes extended his remarkable run to thirteen victories in fifteen races with another copybook performance in race two at Brands Hatch. The newly crowned champion found life slightly tougher than yesterday but in the end, Shane Byrne was powerless to prevent him easing away.
The early stages of the race didn’t quite mirror the mayhem of yesterday with Byrne and Brookes stretching clear of the chasing pack to dispute the lead between themselves. Despite the superior straight-line speed of the Yamaha YZF-R1, Byrne positioned his Kawasaki perfectly on the approach to Paddock Hill bend to retain the lead but under braking for Westfield on lap seven, Brookes finally squeezed past.
Unlike in race one, Brookes didn’t disappear into the distance with Byrne bravely hanging on to his tail but with five laps remaining, the slipstream was finally lost and Josh had an unassailable advantage. It was academic anyway on the final lap when the red flags were brought out due to a heavy crash for Shaun Winfield at Clearways, ending the race early.
Behind the dominant leaders, seven riders fought out an entertaining tussle for the final podium position with Michael Laverty leading John Hopkins across the line to start the last lap, something that would soon become crucial when the red flags were shown. James Ellison recovered from a lowly grid position to finish fifth, securing a front row start for race three in the process, while Lee Jackson took sixth for Buildbase BMW.
Luke Mossey took a huge step towards winning the BSB Rider’s Cup with seventh ahead of Christian Iddon and Danny Buchan while Dan Linfoot put in his best showing of an otherwise disappointing weekend in tenth.