Ryuichi Kiyonari followed up his victory at Knockhill with another at Brands Hatch after a superb ride to edge out Shane Byrne in race one. The Japanese rider came through from the second row of the grid to beat Byrne as well as the GBmoto Kawasakis, enhancing his showdown prospects in the process.
Byrne converted pole position into an early lead while James Ellison and Chris Walker squabbled over second, and inter-team supremacy, behind him but the race was put on hold by a terrible accident on lap four. Approaching Druids, Barry Burrell lost control of his WD40 Kawasaki with the ZX-10R seeming to lock up without scrubbing off any speed. Both rider and motorcycle ploughed into the safety barriers and the safety car was called while Burrell was treated trackside.
When the race went green again, Byrne continued to lead but Kiyonari was emerging as a threat, passing Walker for third on lap eleven before depriving Ellison of second at Druids two laps later. Byrne would prove a much tougher nut to crack but after two failed attempts, Ryuichi made the move stick at Paddock Hill bend to hand Buildbase BMW a second victory in as many meetings. Byrne strengthened his championship position with second while Ellison saw off Walker for the final podium spot.
Kiyonari was keen to praise his team for their part in his victory after struggling for pace earlier in the weekend. “In practice I was not as fast, but the team changed things on the bike and got it working well. That is why I can I can hardly believe we won, it is down to my team and I am very happy”, he added.
Dan Linfoot repeated his impressive qualifying form to take fifth ahead of a disappointed Josh Brookes with Jakub Smrz seventh ahead of Richard Cooper. John Hopkins suffered a disastrous start, stalling his Tyco Suzuki on the grid and being sent to the back, but the American recovered expertly to salvage ninth place.
