BE Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne took the first MCE British Superbike win at Brands Hatch after bouncing back from an earlier mistake.
The defending champion took the lead on the 18th of what was supposed to be a 20-lap scrap, but was stopped a lap early as spots of rain began to get heavier.
At the start, it was JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey who got the hole-shot from second place on the grid to take the lead, as poleman Josh Brookes fell into second with Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot third. Peter Hickman slotted himself into fourth ahead of the second JG Speedfit Kawasaki of Leon Haslam.
Byrne was running sixth, and the order remained the same through the opening two laps, as Mossey began to eke out a bit of a lead up front.
By Lap Four, Byrne was starting to breathe down the neck of Haslam, but as he closed right up on his rival a lap later, he ran wide and dropped three spots into ninth.
Up front, Brookes had closed in on Mossey and made the move into the lead as they came through Clearways to start the sixth lap, but Mossey was having none of it, taking the lead back into Paddock Hill Bend.
Linfoot, who had been keeping a watching brief behind, saw an opportunity and made a move on Brookes to steal second into Druids, seconds before the Safety Car was deployed to deal with a crash by Brookes’ Anvil Hire TAG racing team-mate Shaun Winfield.
The Safety Car went in at the end of lap eight, and Mossey played it perfectly, going early and leading the way as Hickman’s Smiths Racing BMW passed Brookes for third.
The lead changed two laps later as Linfoot’s Honda Racing machine moved to the front, as Brookes started to go backwards and Haslam moved up to third.
Hickman was the next rider to go into the lead two laps later, as Mossey started to come back, passing his team-mate into third and then passing Linfoot for second.
But Linfoot soon took the place back and started to close in on the leader, making the move into Paddock Hill Bend on the 16th lap. With very light rain spotting, Mossey began to drop back but Byrne was on a charge, having slowly crept his way up to fourth.
On the 17th lap, he passed Haslam at Hawthorns and then went straight underneath Hickman to move into second, and in what seemed like no time, was on the back of Linfoot’s Honda.
He made the pass into Surtees a lap later, while behind, Haslam was also looking good, moving ahead of Hickman to take the final podium spot. As the rain began to get heavier, the red flag came out on the 19th lap, cutting the race short by just a lap.
Byrne, Linfoot and Haslam made up the top three, as Hickman managed to hold onto fourth. Brookes, who had found himself on a bit of a comeback charge, was fifth as James Ellison was the first McAMS Yamaha home in sixth.
The second Honda of Jason O’Halloran was seventh, ahead of Christian Iddon’s Tyco BMW in eight, the Moto Rapido Ducati of John Hopkins in ninth as Bradley Ray rounded out the top 10 aboard the Buildbase Suzuki.
