AP Kawasaki's Freddie Russo finally took the win in the double red-flagged Metzeler National Superstock 600 Championship race at Cadwell Park this afternoon.
CN Racing's Glenn Irwin cut across the track to take the lead ahead of Keith Farmer of Farmer Racing who plunged to second. Pole position man James East of East racing lost out on his pole position slightly to be running in third before crashing out at Goose Neck. Bristol Kawasaki' Connor Behan was unusually running last, looking to have a problem.
It wasn't long before Farmer took the lead, but the race was then red flagged due to a multiple bike incident at the Mountain before the end of lap one which saw the tragic death of Ben Gautrey.
On the restart East beat Irwin to the front, third was temporarily taken by Russo but Farmer soon put a stop to that. Even before the end of lap two positions second to fourth were side by side, it was Farmer who grabbed second, Russo got ahead of Irwin to take third, but it was clear Irwin was not going anywhere. Meanwhile East started to pull away slightly setting the fastest lap at this stage Behan was running down in ninth.
On lap three East had a moment which cost him the lead putting him in third. The next group following behind included Haribo's Johnny Blackshaw, Aye Gee Suzuki's Josh Wainwright and Daniel Hegarty of Hego Racing.
On lap five Irwin crashed out of the race losing vital points towards his third place overall championship chase. East lost a couple of places falling behind Wainwright and Hegarty. On lap 7 Russo rode to the lead as Farmer ran off track. Blackshaw who had now got ahead of Wainwright tried to take advantage of Blackshaw's position as he rejoined but due to almost losing the front he was forced to carry on straight onto the grass before eventually crashing out of the race.
East in the meantime was now back into third due to gaining advantage over Wainwright. Now on lap eight due to the constant position changes Hegarty was in fifth followed by Behan who had gained a few places and beat off his challengers. Dominic Usher of Dom Usher Racing, Deane Brown of Appleyard/Macadam Racing, Jonathan Lodge of ANR TSS Racing and Grant Whitaker of HWW/Ferris Racing rounded off the top ten after losing a few places due to, but successfully saving a possible highside.
Then the second red flag declared the race and Russo the race winner on lap nine; this time a technical red flag due to the medical helicopter needed to take off with Benjamin Gautrey. Finishing in the remaining places in the points was Haribo's Alex Olsen, Seton's Ben Burke, Nally Racing's Cody Nally, Tom Fisher of Kawasaki Team Green and finally CSS's Tom Young.
Championship points:
Farmer 142
Behan 106
Russo 83
East 73
Brown 70
