JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam doubled up with his second Bennetts British Superbike race win of the weekend, despite taking a penalty for contact.
The series leader smacked into the side of Bradley Ray early on, but overcame his one-position slap on the wrist to scythe through the field and take victory while early race leaders Taz Mackenzie and Jake Dixon crashed just a couple of corners from the finish.
Buildbase Suzuki’s Ray stormed off the line and grabbed the holeshot ahead of pole-sitter Dixon as McAMS Yamaha’s Josh Brookes, Leon Haslam and Mackenzie tucked in behind.
While Jason O’Halloran and Richard Cooper led a train of riders including Be Wise Ducati’s Glenn Irwin and the still-injured Christian Iddon in the battle to bridge the gap, the top five began stretching a lead.
Although Ray led the order for the first six laps of 30, Mackenzie made his way through the front-runners by lap seven to take the lead at Copse.
But it was a shuffle for podium honours after Tyco BMW’s Iddon cut the gap to the front five and while Mackenzie stretched half a second in the lead, Dixon passed Ray for second just before the Buildbase Suzuki rider fell into the clutches of Haslam.
The championship leader saw a gap at Luffield and smacked into the side of Ray to move ahead, but running wide allowed Brookes to get through into third.
Back at the front, Dixon caught up to Mackenzie and stuck his RAF Regular and Reserves Kawasaki up the inside at Brooklands, taking the lead while Haslam recovered from his clash with Ray to get straight back on Mackenzie’s tail.
But it looked to be charge over for Haslam after race control signalled Haslam to drop a place back to fourth. Not taking notice, however, Haslam went on to pass Mackenzie and Dixon before finding his pit signal.
When Haslam saw the penalty, he willingly dropped back behind Dixon into second only to be passed immediately by Mackenzie before shoving the pint-sized Yamaha rider back again and taking the lead back from Dixon.
But disaster struck for both Dixon and Mackenzie as they dropped their bikes on the final lap at Brooklands, near where Peter Hickman’s Smith’s BMW had expired moments earlier. With their crashes, Brookes and Glenn Irwin locked out the podium almost 1.5s adrift of Haslam.
An eventful finish followed less than a second behind as Honda Racing’s O’Halloran crossed the line fourth on the outside of the track, only to drop his Fireblade on the grass before hitting Maggots with a flat rear tyre.
Still riding with a broken collarbone from yesterday’s qualifying incident, Iddon braved the pain to finished fifth nearly 2.5s clear of Moto Rapido Ducati’s Tommy Bridewell and OMG Racing Suzuki’s Gino Rea. Luke Mossey, Andrew Irwin and Richard Cooper completed the top 10.
Movuno.com Halsall Racing Suzuki’s Tom Neave and Lloyd & Jones Bowker Motorrad rider Luke Jones both crashed out before the half-way mark, while Michael Laverty binned it with three laps remaining.
