Samsung Honda’s Alex Lowes stormed to victory in the opening MCE British Superbike race of the day at Snetterton, and cruised to the win with a 1.9 second lead over second placed man, Tyco Suzuki’s Josh Brookes, with the Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki of Shane Byrne in third.
Lowes did not have the best of starts and on the first lap found himself in third. But on lap five he made his mark on Byrne at Montreal to go second, and then overtook, leader Brookes at Agostini to go into the lead, and that is where he remained for the rest of the race. Even though Brookes did close the gap on the Derby lad by 0.2 seconds he could not find enough pace to clinch his first win of the year from Lowes, and on the penultimate lap dropped back from the Honda and had to contend with the challenge from the championship leader, Byrne.
Milwaukee Yamaha’s James Ellison had a solid race, and was in contention of a podium finish, but how ever hard he tried he could not overtake Byrne to take the third spot on the podium, and on lap twelve the top three riders broke away.
Samsung Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari had a lonely race. On lap two he was as high as fourth, but was overtaken by Ellison and he was pushed back to fifth, and that is where he stayed, and at the end of the race was thirteen seconds adrift of sixth place finisher, Buildbase BMW’s James Westmoreland.
Doodson Motorsports Robbin Harms had his best finish on the season as he crossed the line in seventh, followed by Padgett’s Jakub Smrz, Milwaukee Yamaha’s Josh Waters and Rapido Sport’s Matteo Baiocco. The Italian also bagged his best result of the season, and came away from race one in tenth.
But not every rider made it to the finishing line. First to retire was Bathams rider Tommy Bridewell, who had a technical problem, which caused him to spill oil on the track, resulting in the safety car coming out for two laps. His team-mate, veteran rider Michael Rutter also entered the pits with a technical issue on lap thirteen. They were not the only riders to experience problems, MH Kawasaki’s Howie Mainwaring Smart, also made his way to the pits, and Quattro Plant’s Chris Walker was ordered off the track, while he was in sixth position as smoke was coming out of his bike.
Crocked rider Martin Jessopp, could only manage eight laps, as his coccyx injury proved too painful for him to continue. Two Wheel Racing’s Jenny Tinmouth fell at Montreal and eleven laps later, Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobsen had a spectacular crash while he was in sixth, and was aiming for his best result of the season when he fell at Murrays on the penultimate lap.
