Jack Kennedy claimed the honours in the feature Quattro British Supersport Championship race at Brands Hatch on Sunday, the HEL Performance/Bournemouth Kawasaki rider coming home ahead of Sprint race victor Kyle Smith (Dynavolt Triumph) and Eunan McGlinchey (Gearlink Kawasaki)
The race was scheduled to take place over 18 laps but was stopped due to light rain on lap six and re-started over just eight laps although Jamie Perrin (Spirit Motocorsa) failed to make it out of the pits in time and instead of starting from sixth on the grid, he had to start from the back row.
When the race did finally get underway, it was Ben Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki) who grabbed the initiative from Charlie Nesbitt (RS Racing Kalex) and Kennedy with Smith threatening immediately in fourth.
It was all change at the end of the opening lap though with Kennedy leading Currie, Smith, Nesbitt and Mason Law (Spirit Motocorsa) whilst Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) – who stalled on the line on the first start – had moved from 17th to eighth.
Kennedy, Currie and Smith edged away slightly on the second lap but not for long with McGlinchey, Law and Johnston soon reeling them back in. Indeed, McGlinchey moved past Smith at Druids third time around before Law went grass tracking at Graham Hill and dropped down the order to 15th.
With clear track in front of him, Kennedy got his head down and pulled out a lead of 2.3s at half race distance as Gearlink team-mates McGlinchey and Currie and Smith disputed second. Nesbitt, Johnston and Korie McGreevy (Mar-Train Racing) were also in contention but previous championship leader Bradley Perie wasn’t enjoying the slippy conditions as he circulated in ninth on the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha..
Former double champion Kennedy was away with it at the head of the field but Smith overtook Currie on lap five and closed in on McGlinchey with just a tenth of a second splitting them a lap later.
Smith was ahead on the following lap though but he’d left it too late to do anything about Kennedy and the double champion duly took his second win of the season to extend his championship lead.
The thrilling battle for third went all the way to the line where McGlinchey got the better of team-mate Currie with Johnston, Nesbitt – again the leading GP2 Cup rider – and McGreevy following them over the line.
Law regrouped superbly to take eighth and claim second place in the GP2 Cup whilst Brandon Paasch on the second Dynavolt Triumph took ninth ahead of Perie.