Smiths Triumph’s Glen Richards stole victory away from championship leader Jack Kennedy by 0.090 of a second in a thrilling first Motorpoint British Supersport race at Brands Hatch this morning.
Richards took the holeshot from pole position but it was quickly taken from him on the entry to Druids by Kennedy on the Mar-Train Yamaha. The duo then escaped from the chasing pack of Billy McConnell, Luke Mossey and Christian Iddon thanks to a couple of near highsides.
With two laps to go Kennedy took the lead at the end of the back straight and looked set to hold on to it with Richards unable to get past the Dubliner’s defensive lines. The Adelaide man, however, was able to find a gap at the penultimate corner of Sterlings and Kennedy wasn’t able to reply.
Kennedy’s Championship lead is now reduced to just 5 points but he is in pole position for the second race later this afternoon after setting the fastest lap.
In the battle for third, team-mates McConnell and Mossey collided on the last lap resulting in McConnell crashing out and Mossey slipping back to fifth with Iddon able to pick up his first rostrum of the year. Luke Jones came through in fourth, taking the Cup victory too.
Ben Wilson on the Gearlink Kawasaki recovered from an early error to take sixth ahead of 777RR’s Pauli Pekkanen. Deane Brown, on the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha, was also able to recover from a poor start to come home in eighth, getting the better of Richard Cooper and Sam Warren.
