Be Wiser Ducati‘s Josh Brookes dominated a shortened Bennetts British Superbikes race two to take his fifth win of the season onboard his Ducati V4 R.
As rain clouds lingered over the Thruxton circuit, race two commenced with Jason O’Halloran getting the best launch from the middle of the front row to lead into Allard corner ahead of Brookes and James Ellison. Race one winner Andrew Irwin slotted into fourth ahead Dan Linfoot who had made a promising start onboard the TAG Yamaha.
Brookes wasn’t long in taking the lead, quickly followed by Hickman and Irwin who both got the better of O’Halloran.
Irwin was under pressure from the Ducati pair of Scott Redding and Tommy Bridewell who both moved their way passed the Honda on lap seven and eight.
As Brookes started to escape from the pack the ongoing rainfall got heavier resulting in a red flag at the end of the ninth of twenty laps.
Racing action commenced once again with a shortened thirteen lap distance, and it was Hickman who got the holeshot to lead the restart ahead of Brookes and Bridewell.
Brookes took the lead with a brave 120mph overtake on Hickman at Church corner and looked to open the gap like he was doing in the first part of the race.
However, Andrew Irwin was quick to follow Brookes passed the Smiths BMW, and kept on the back of the Ducati, whilst Linfoot also passed Hickman for third.
Brookes’ charge was halted once again on lap eight after Glenn Irwin highsided out of the final chicane, resulting in his new Tyco BMW on fire in the middle of the circuit, and left a pool of oil.
After much uncertainty, the race finally restarted with two warm-up laps, allowing riders to assess track conditions.
Eight laps were all that faced the riders, and Brookes picked up where he left off, taking the lead and pushed from the start, eventually opening a 4.2 second lead over the pack to dominate the third run of race two.
The battle behind raged on all race with Hickman and Irwin jostling for second and third whilst Redding was stuck down in eighth at the end of the opening few laps.
Redding’s race was about to get worse after missing his brake marker for the final chicane and ran wide, resulting in the Ducati rider to cut the circuit – being awarded the long lap penalty. Redding never completed the long lap penalty and was handed a fifteen-second penalty at the end of the race, despite giving O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot two free positions.
The battle for second was raging on with Hickman battling hard with Irwin whilst Bridewell was scraping with McAMS Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran.
Scott Redding recovered from his track excursion, and pounced on both Hickman and Irwin on the final lap to take second place on the road, but dropped to twenty-second and last after his time penalty.
Eventually, Josh Brookes completed his operation domination to win race two ahead of Andy Irwin who got the better of Peter Hickman, who now heads to the Ulster Grand Prix.
With Redding picking up no points in race two, his lead is now twenty points over teammate Josh Brookes whilst Tommy Bridewell sits a further nineteen points back.
Andy Irwin picked up a handful of podium credits, and moved inside the ‘Showdown Six’.
For full results from race two, Click here
For Full championship standings, click here
Bennetts British Superbikes returns to party in the park on 16-18 August at the famous Cadwell Park, where for the first time this year riders will tackle the infamous Mountain.
