Shane Byrne took a commanding victory in the second race of the day at Snetterton after a red flag brought proceedings to an end.
Byrne had led the race from the get-go and was awarded the win on lap 13 when the red flag was released. This was due to circuit being covered in debris and oil from a Jenny Tinmouth crash at Brundle.
At the time of the incident Dan Linfoot did look like he was closing in on the four-time champion but we will now never know if he could have challenged the veteran.
Michael Laverty completed the podium on his Tyco BMW after getting the better of Leon Haslam (4th) and race one winner Jason O’Halloran (5th).
Christian Iddon fought through the pain to finish in sixth place just ahead of series rookie Glenn Irwin, who ended an extremely positive week in seventh place.
Peter Hickman kept his eighth place finish despite crashing out during the ‘final’ lap of the race. Danny Buchan and Tommy Bridewell completed the top 10 finishers.
At the start of the race O’Halloran seemed to get off the line quickly but he was unable to get down the inside of Byrne at the first corner. Behind them Laverty had moved up into fourth, with Luke Mossey making a great start to move-up into 6th.
Back at the front Haslam found his way past O’Halloran into second with Laverty also getting the better of the Australian at Murray’s. O’Halloran continued to fall backwards on the second lap, with Linfoot overtaking both him and Laverty in one move.
Many may have expected Byrne to pull away from the chasing pack after making a clean start but this was not the case early on. The top seven riders were all bunched together at the beginning of lap five.
Byrne and Linfoot soon got into their groove and began to pull away from Haslam, who was slipping into the grasps of Laverty and O’Halloran.
After a couple of failed attempts at Montreal and Brundle, Laverty made his move going into the final corner and made it stick down the home straight. O’Halloran took advantage and followed him through at Riches.
Lap 11 saw the retirement of James Ellison, who will be looking to put this weekend behind him sooner, rather than later. Back on the track, Haslam fought back and re-took fourth place from O’Halloran at Brundle.
The battle for the lead looked like it was about to heat up, with Linfoot closing down the Be Wiser Ducati of ‘Shakey’ Byrne.
There was to be no battle however as the race was brought to a premature end on lap 13 following an incident between Brundle and Nelson.
Honda Racing’s Tinmouth had lost the front coming into the pair of corners and her bike flipped into the air – causing debris to land all over circuit. The impact of the crash had also smashed the petrol tank which caused oil to leak onto the track.
The decision was made to red flag the race with the current positions taken as the race result.
Byrne’s victory gives him the lead of the championship once again but the gap is a small one, with Haslam just four points behind in second.
Following a highly successful weekend O’Halloran finds himself third in championship on 116 points, five points ahead of his teammate Linfoot.
