JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam bagged his third MCE British Superbike win of the season, after he held off the charges from Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne and Luke Mossey, to take the race one victory in style at Oulton Park.
It was a lights-to-flag win for the Smalley lad and he extends his lead in the series. Byrne was also able to clinch his first points of the year, and podium credits in second place, with JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Mossey completing the rostrum.
Initially it was Haslam who got the holeshot followed by a resurgent Byrne, Mossey Brookes and Irwin. Before the race the weather was not favourable as rain showers hampered the track activity, but when the lights went out all the riders opted for slicks.
The JG Speedfit Kawasaki bikes went for the harder front and rear tyre combo’s, with the Be Wiser Ducati’s going for the softer SC1 front and SC0 soft rear Pirelli’s. Meanwhile on lap 12 the leading trio of Haslam, Byrne and Mossey had a two second advantage over Brookes, O’Halloran, Hickman, Irwin, Iddon and Dixon.
The Fireblade of Jason O’Halloran began to gain pace on the SC2 harder front and soft rear and made a move that stuck on Brookes, with Hickman also moving past the ex BSB title holder on lap 14, going into Lodge.
Smiths Racing’s Peter Hickman propelled his S1000RR into fourth with four laps to go, and gained speed on the soft front and hard rear tyres, after an overtake on O’Halloran, but the Honda hit back on the last lap at Druids to retake fourth.
Close behind, going into Hizzy’s on the penultimate lap Ellison overtook Brookes to go into sixth, after starting on the fifth row. The Anvil Hire TAG Racing R1 had the softer front and rear tyres. At the front Haslam paced ahead and eked another 2.6s from Byrne and Mossey.
At the flag O’Halloran snatched fourth from Hickman, Ellison, Brookes, Iddon, Irwin and Dixon. Bridewell, McConnell, Smrz, Hopkins and Jackson were the last of the points
finishers. Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot was locked in a battle with Seeley for in the 18-lapper, and just missed out on a point after ending race one in 16th.
During the opening race, Buildbase Suzuki’s Bradley Ray crashed at Old Hall on lap 7 seven of 18, whilst in the mid pack, but he walked away unscathed from the fall. Former World Superbike champion, Sylvain Guintoli retired with an issue with his Suzuki and finished the race inside Bennetts Suzuki garage.
It was a also a disastrous race for McAMS Yamaha’s Michael Laverty. Yesterday the Wales-based rider crashed spectacularly in qualifying and his R1 broke into what looked like a thousand pieces. His team were in a race against time to get his bike fixed again, and they did - but with four laps left the Northern Irishman had to make his way to the pits with a bike issue.
