Airwaves Yamaha’s James Ellison was given the win in race one at the seventh round of the Visk British Superbike championship at Mallory park this afternoon following a multi-bike pile up which started with HM Plant Honda's Josh Brookes launching himself at Simon Andrews into the hairpin.
Ellison was having a solid ride in seventh place, his equivalent qualifying position until the incident on lap 22 which eliminated a total of six riders from the results.  Teammate Leon Camier also of Airwaves Yamaha was awarded second place after working his way back up to eighth from 24th due to a first lap incident. Graeme Gowland of Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha took the last step of the podium.
It was Chris Walker of Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha who led into the first corner ahead of debut rider Tommy Hill of Worx Crescent Suzuki.  A first lap incident at Edwinas occurred when wildcard rider Richard Cooper of Team Co-Ordit who looked to sit up to avoid Simon Andrews of MSS Colchester Kawasaki who went up on the inside.
Due to the following riders still at speed Cooper believed to be tagged slightly before falling in the middle of the track forcing other riders to avoid.  One of which was Leon Camier who had to go grass tracking and rejoin the race down in 24th.
Whilst Camier battled his way up through the grid a hot battle was going on at the front.  Andrews took the lead and held it for most of the race, he was challenged by both Walker and Hill who swapped places numerous times and rode three a breast going into Gerrards the first corner of the circuit.
On lap six Andrews pulled away to have a gap over 1.5s, but as the race continued was drawn back in and the front runners became a leading trio.  Josh Brookes of H M Plant Honda by lap 20 of 30 increased the front group to four riders leaving Karl Harris of Hydrex Honda, John Laverty of Buildbase Kawasaki and Ellison to battle for fourth behind.
It was on lap 22 that another event of the 2009 season occurred which will be highly debated for some time to come.  From fourth position Brookes took the inside line into Shaw’s Hairpin at too high a speed in which under breaking his rear wheel lifted off the ground.  As the rubber came back into contact with the tarmac at an undesirable angle Brookes was thrown like a missile from his Honda.
Amazingly he narrowly missed Andrews directly in front of me, but the same could not be said for his bike which sidelined Andrews out of the race taking away his likely first win of the season.  The carnage continued as the following riders could not avoid the aftermath causing the pile up of the season.  It was Ellison who was the first rider able to manoeuvre safely through.
Stuart Higgs race director referred to the rule book that following a red flag produced over half race distance the results are obtained from the order at the start of the lap eliminating all riders that are no longer on their machines at the time of the red flag therefore Ellison took the win.
Other riders who did not finish were Hydrex Honda Stuart Easton who had to retire due to bike problems, Aaron Zanotti of Red Viper Racing and Michael Howarth of STP-JHS Racing.
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