Danny Buchan repeated his 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship victory at Knockhill on Sunday with the Synetiq BMW rider coming home a second clear of the brilliant rookie Rory Skinner (FS-3 Racing Kawasaki).
McAMS Yamaha’s Tarran Mackenzie took the final podium place after a last lap move on Christian Iddon but the VisionTrack Ducati rider took the lead in the championship standings after Jason O’Halloran crashed out.
It was Iddon who grabbed the holeshot from Buchan and Peter Hickman (FHO Racing BMW) and that was the order as they crossed the line for the first time with Skinner slotting into fourth ahead of Mackenzie and O’Halloran. The latter was relegated a place a lap later by a flying Gino Rea on the Buildbase Suzuki.
By lap four, the leading four riders – Iddon, Buchan, Hickman and Skinner – had opened up a gap of three quarters of a second over fifth placed Mackenzie but two laps later the gaps began to close again as Hickman moved by Buchan at the Hairpin.
Skinner then followed him through at turn one and the youngster was again impressing, looking perfectly at home with the more established front runners. Meanwhile, Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) was now the fastest man on track in seventh, one place ahead of championship leader O’Halloran.
Lap ten saw Suzuki’s Danny Kent come to grief at the hairpin and Iddon’s lead at half race distance was half a second over Hickman but drama followed next time around as O’Halloran crashed out at turn three.
Hickman tried to make a move on Iddon on lap 11 but he wasn’t able to make it and slipped back to sixth as a result, Buchan, Mackenzie, Skinner and Rea all moving ahead of him.
Buchan made the most of the opportunity and by lap 13 had closed to within 0.273s of Iddon with Mackenzie still in third and only half a second further back. Hickman, meanwhile, was regrouping and had moved back into fifth.
The gap remained practically the same at half race distance as just one second covered the leading four riders and they, in turn, had pulled 1.3s clear of the chasing pack, still led by Hickman.
Back at the front and Iddon continued to lead the way, as he has for much of the season, and although Buchan nosed ahead at the hairpin on lap 17, Iddon was back in the lead as they crossed the line.
However, Buchan wasn’t to be outdone and moved ahead on the brakes into turn one and at the end of the lap, Skinner saw an opportunity at the hairpin to get ahead of Mackenzie, a move he duly pulled off.
Hickman was doing his utmost to reel the leading four back in whilst Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Ducati) was now up to sixth ahead of Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki).
Skinner made another successful move at the hairpin on lap 19, this time on Iddon, to move up to a brilliant second and with the fastest lap of the race, he set about closing the gap to Buchan who now led by 0.625s.
The BMW rider was having none of it though and stretched his lead to more than a second as the race entered its closing stages, duly holding on for his first win of the season.
Skinner withstood the considerable pressure he was under from Iddon and Mackenzie to take a superb second and it was the latter who took the final podium position after a last lap move.
Further back, Hickman took to the grass at turn one with three laps to go, smashing through a hoarding in the process and that allowed Bridewell and Vickers to come through for fifth and sixth, the BMW man eventually taking seventh.
Lee Jackson, Ray and Rea completed the top ten ahead of Honda’s Glenn Irwin and defending champion Josh Brookes.
