Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari fought off a last-corner dive by MCE British Superbike series leader Shane Byrne to take victory in the first race at Donington Park this afternoon.
The Japanese rider, who has confirmed he will remain with the team into 2015, scrapped with Byrne for most of the 20—lap encounter, swapping places three times in the last two laps. Byrne tried to push past on the penultimate lap, going under Kiyonari into the Old Hairpin but the Japanese man was straight back past through Starkeys.
On the run to the the last corner a lap later, Kiyo took a defensive line but Byrne still tried to stuff it up the inside but ran wide and allowed Kiyo to dive back underneath and get enough corner exit grip to make it to the line by just two tenths of a second.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell bagged third spot after passing team-mate Josh Brookes on lap 13. Bridewell came from eighth on the grid but as soon as he got past John Hopkins he was able to bridge the gap to the leaders quite quickly. Brookes has been struggling with engine braking all weekend and it looked like it was the same story as Bridewell sailed past and tried to pull in the leaders.
He simply ran out of laps though as Byrne and Kiyo slowed each other with their scrap and he only finished a second off the lead. Stuart Easton ended in fifth but can't now make the Showdown as Chris Walker's 11th place was enough to put him through to the final six.
Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Waters rode a solid race to finish in sixth, one place ahead of Cadwell Park winner Peter Hickman while Dan Linfoot secured his Showdown spot with his eighth place. Patric Muff and James Westmoreland rounded out the top ten. Poleman John Hopkins crashed out of eighth place, losing the front at Melbourne on lap six.
