Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Waters was not fazed by the wet conditions during the opening MCE British Superbike race at Assen, as he managed to hold off the charge of Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari to take the win, his second of the year so far.
But the race was full of drama, which included crashes for title challengers Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes – who were fortunately unhurt. With those two riders out of contention it led the way for Kiyonari to close the gap to seven points in the overall championship standings.
But a Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki bike did make it on to the podium as Stuart Easton grabbed the final step of the rostrum, from GBmoto Kawasaki’s James Ellison and Alstare Junior's Christian Iddon.
Initially it was Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot who got the hole-shot ahead of Iddon and Byrne, but Brookes had to start from the back row as he left it too late to leave pit lane in time for the start of the race, so already was under a lot of pressure from the very beginning of the opening race, as he was originally meant to start from row two.
But things went from bad to worse for Brookes as he ended up crashing at Mandeveen, but he picked his bike up and continued the race, but was soon black flagged as it is against BSB rules.
Meanwhile Byrne made his way to the front on the second lap. Two rotations later Linfoot made a move on Iddon at the Geert Timmer chicane to retake second. Soon Iddon was under the attack of wet weather specialist Waters for third as the likeable Aussie had a podium place in his grasp – and he did just that making his way into third on lap five.
Showdown rider, Kiyonari was also approaching Iddon and was soon on his tail, riding on full wets. But the triple-champ was quickly being caught up by FFX Yamaha’s Filip Backlund, who was consistently setting the fastest lap.
BSB debutant wildcard rider Joe Burns and Halsall Racing’s Jon Kirkham crashed, in separate incidents out on track, just as a heavy shower hit the back of the TT circuit, but were both declared OK at the track side. Kirkham did set the fastest lap just before he fell, and will start on pole for race two.
Backlund made the most of the rain shower and in one move made his way to fourth, with Kiyonari following suit into third, with Waters snatching second as Linfoot went wide on the 11th lap.
Circuit debutant Waters was powering ahead and overtook Byrne at Haarbocht to lead the race for the first time with six laps remaining. Then the battle of the triple champs emerged at the Cathedral of Speed with Kiyonari keen to close the gap on his fellow title challenger, Byrne.
Backlund was going well, but was pushing to hard to get fourth but fell into the gravel at De Bult, but after a big off did manage to walk away from a high-side. Kiyonari was not giving up on the championship and soon passed Byrne going into the chicane on lap twelve, just as front row starter Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins experienced a technical problem and retired to the pits.
But with two laps remaining Byrne had a massive crash at De Bult whilst in third, with only two laps remaining, leaving the way for Kiyonari to close the gap on the championship.
Whilst all the drama was happening at the front Easton was having a stellar ride out on track and got the better of Iddon to snatch the final podium spot. But further up the field Kiyonari decided to fight back at Ruskenhoek only for Waters to pull it back, and the Aussie managed to hold on to take the win for his team, with Kiyonari and Easton completing the top three.
Iddon tried to hold on to fourth but was pipped to the post by GBmoto Kawasaki’s James Ellison with the Bimota rider rounding up the top five. Showdown rider’s Linfoot, Bridewell and Walker finished the first race in sixth, ninth and sixteenth respectively. Buildbase BMW’s Lee Jackson, who is wildcarding this weekend for his Superstock team rounded up the top ten.
