Leon Haslam claimed his first victory in nine races to avenge his defeat at the hands of Shane Byrne earlier in the day at Cadwell Park. The JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider lost out to Byrne on the final lap of race one but dominated race two, leading home Jason O’Halloran with Byrne close behind in third.
Haslam started from pole position for the second time today after breaking the lap record in race one but Byrne had muscled past before the end of lap one. A repeat of their race one head-to-head would have to wait though as a first corner collision between Howie Mainwaring-Smart and Filip Backlund had brought out the safety car.
Green flag resumed on lap four and it wasn’t long before Haslam went on the attack, barging past Byrne into Park corner with a move that slowed the Be Wiser Ducati so much that O’Halloran snatched second. From that point on, the podium positions were set with Haslam and O’Halloran avoiding the tyre management issues that plagued them towards the end of race one.
Peter Hickman grabbed fourth, equalling his best result since winning at Silverstone, after overtaking Tommy Bridewell at Park while Dan Linfoot atoned for his race one crash by beating Glenn Irwin to sixth. The critical moment in the race from a Showdown point of view came in the fight for eighth though with Christian Iddon wiping out Richard Cooper at the hairpin on the penultimate lap, eliminating both riders.
As a result, James Ellison inherited eighth spot and with it, Cooper’s place in the showdown positions ahead of Oulton Park, while Luke Mossey kept his hopes alive with ninth.
