Buildbase BMW’s Ryuichi Kiyonari held off the charges of Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Shane Byrne for the second time today to do the MCE British Superbike double at Donington Park.

Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Brookes secured some podium credits, after coming across the finishing line in third. With that result Byrne still has a 26 point advantage over Brookes. But with Kiyonari bagging a maximum 50 points it edges him closer to the Australian, with only one point separating the pair.

At first it was Kiyonari who got the hole-shot followed by Easton – who had a superb start, with his team-mate, trailing behind in third. But soon the Lambeth born racer got one over his Scottish colleague to take second.

Meanwhile the Milwaukee Yamaha pairing of Josh Brookes and Tommy Bridewell were holded up in fourth and fifth respectively, with the Aussie clinging on ahead of the Devizes swearbox with 15 laps remaining.

But Bridewell pushed on ahead of his garage partner, but ended up in the gravel after going in too hard at the Old Hairpin on the seventh rotation. On the same lap Rhalf Lo Turco fell at the Esses and the yellow flags appeared at the side of the track – but he was later declared OK.

At the halfway mark Honda Racing’s development rider, Julien Da Costa out –paced Showdown rider, Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot and Tyco Suzuki’s pole-setter, Josh Waters to go into fifth.

Further up the pack the battle for the final step of the rostrum was hotting up between Brookes and Easton, with the Bringelly rider upping the pace to make a move coming out of Craner Curve to go into third. Waters was fighting back and at the Wheatcroft straight out braked Da Costa to go into fifth, with only five laps remaining. Meanwhile Brookes was creeping up ever closer to the battling front pairing of Kiyonari and Byrne.

A the chequered flag Easton and Waters completed the top five, and the likeable Australian Superbike champ managed to hold off Da Costa, RAF Reserves Honda’s Peter Hickman, and Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland.

Tyco Suzuki’s John Hopkins started off the weekend so strongly but could only snatch ninth, ahead of GBmoto Kawasaki’s Chris Walker and James Ellison. But Walker had already done enough to secure his Showdown place. FFX Yamaha's BSB debutant rider, Filip Backlund ended his first race inside the points, after crossing the line in 15th.

There were a few non-starters, which included WD-40’s Barry Burrell and Junior Alstare’s Christophe Ponsson, who encountered bike issues after earlier crashes in race one.

Click here for results