JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey cemented his debut MCE British Superbike win in style, during the opening race at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, and had a 3.5 second advantage over his team-mate, Leon Haslam and Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon.
Mossey was chased hard, but after half race distance excelled and took a strong win at his local circuit. But the youngster was not the first rider to look like a potential winner - McAMS Yamaha’s James Ellison had a strong start, but crashed unhurt at Druids.
After Mossey powered ahead the battle for second and third was heating up with three laps left to go, and Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne narrowly missed out on a podium finish and was only 0.1 seconds shy of his first rostrum of the season
Initially it was Ellison who got the hole-shot, but Haslam then took the lead at the second corner, only for Ellison to bite back at Clearways on only the opening lap. Mossey was on the tail of his team-mate and gained at place back at Paddock Hill.
On lap eight Ellison pulled away slightly from Mossey with a half a second advantage. Elsewhere the Honda’s of Linfoot and O’Halloran were right in the mix and both were inside the top six on lap 11 of 30.
But there was drama for Ellison as he was in the lead and then crashed at Druids, as he clipped the curb on the 12th rotation, dashing his dreams of winning his first race of the season. The Cumbrian did stay true to his word and opted for the harder rear Pirelli tyre.
Byrne started on the second row, and did not have the best of the beginnings and was caught up in the mid-pack, but the reigning champ fought back and was up to fourth after overtaking the Honda duo with 13 laps remaining. The Panigale racer stayed with the softest rear and front tyre compounds.
Further up the grid, Iddon was edging ever closer to Haslam, while Mossey paced ahead. Both JG Speedfit bikes went for the SC2 front and SC1 rear Pirelli tyres. Iddon was on the harder front and soft rear tyres.
The battle for the last remaining podium spots was beginning to heat up with three laps left, as Byrne joined the mix with Iddon and Haslam, but a lap later Haslam went back into second at Graham Hill. At the chequered flag Irwin was sandwiched in between the two Honda's, with Linfoot, Irwin and O'Halloran completing the top seven. Laverty, Hickman and Brookes gained valuable points as they all finished inside the top ten.
Former World Superbike champion, Sylvain Guintoli was up inside the top ten, and did have a strong warm up session, but after 20 laps of the 1.2 mile track he entered the pits which what looked to be a technical issue. Shaun Winfield also retired with a technical problem, as did Jake Dixon after only six laps. Bridewell, Ray, Hopkins, Smrz and Mackenzie were the last of the points finishers.
