Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes bagged the opening MCE British Superbike race victory at Assen, but not only that set a new lap record too, with a 1’36.904.
When the chequered flag appeared Brookes had a six second advantage over second place finisher, and fellow Showdown rider, JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s James Ellison. The Cumbrian crossed the finishing line in a dominant second, with Michael Laverty clinching third.
It is the first podium of the year for the Tyco BMW rider, and he successfully held off the attacks from rival, PBM Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne to help in his quest for the BSB crown. The ZX-10R racer had to settle for fourth, and narrowly missed out on a rostrum finish.
At first it was Brookes who got the hole-shot ahead of Ellison and Byrne. Three rotations later Brookes broke Alex Lowes’ lap record from back in 2013, and put down a 1’36.952 to ease ahead of rivals Ellison and Byrne.
But a lap later, Brookes edged a bit more out of his R1 and lapped a 1’36.904 breaking his own record he set moments before out on the Dutch circuit. On lap seven of eighteen Byrne had Hopkins hot on his heels and the American Ducati man crept ever closer to the PBM backed Kawasaki.
Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty, complete with a new factory swing arm was lapping faster than Byrne and Hopkins with nine laps to go and was getting closer to the duelling riders.
But on the final corner on lap nine Byrne made a mistake going into Geert Timmer chicane allowing the Panigale of Hopkins to sneak through into third. With the trio of Laverty, Byrne and Hopkins fighting for that final podium spot it paved the way for Ellison and Brookes to gain an advantage of six seconds on the halfway point.
While the pair of Showdown riders were fighting at the front, further down the field Byrne hit back at Hopkins to go back into third, and Iddon and Cooper decided to join the fight for a rostrum, with the battle turning
into a five-way dice for points.
Title fighter, Laverty was not giving up and dived in front of Hopkins and then Byrne at De Bult to go into a provisional podium spot for the first time in the race on lap thirteen.
On the penultimate rotation Brookes pulled the pin and gained a six seconds over Ellison with the gap increased to eight seconds over the other top five riders. But Byrne also regained his pace and fought back to challenge Laverty for the podium with Hopkins in hot pursuit.
At the flag Laverty managed to hold off the attacks of Byrne to grab third. Moto Rapido Ducati’s John Hopkins completed the top five, and Buildbase BMW’s Richard Cooper got the better of Bennetts Suzuki’s Christian Iddon to nab sixth.
Showdown riders Tyco BMW’s Tommy Bridewell and Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot ended race-one in eighth and fourteenth respectively. Milwaukee Yamaha’s newest rider for this round, Jakub Smrz just missed out on a points finish and ended the opening race in sixteenth just behind Bennetts Suzuki’s Josh Waters.
