Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Currie won a shortened Quattro Group British Supersport/GP2 Championship Feature race at Brands Hatch, getting the better of newly crowned champion Jack Kennedy (HEL Performance/Bournemouth Kawasaki) – who started from the back of the grid – in a five-lap dash after the initial race had been red flagged.
Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) got the jump off the line in the initial start and led into Paddock Hill but Kennedy was soon in front and it was he who led at the completion of the opening lap by 0.431s from Johnston, Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha), Currie, Jamie Perrin and Harry Truelove.
The leading four riders immediately opened up a gap over the rest of the field and after two laps, they were almost 1.5s clear of fifth placed Perrin who now had his Spirit Motocorsa team-mate Mason Law behind him.
Perie hit the front for the first time on lap three, after diving up the inside of Kennedy at Hawthorn, and although Kennedy immediately retaliated the Yamaha led across the line as Johnston and Currie tried to hang on.
Kennedy was back in the lead on lap four, Hawthorn again the chosen corner, but it remained close with just 0.6s covering the quartet. Law was now in fifth with fellow GP2 riders Perrin and Charlie Nesbitt close behind in sixth and seventh.
Perie and Kennedy repeatedly swapped positions over the next two laps but Perie then crashed coming out of Surtees on lap seven and side-swiped Kennedy. Saturday’s race winner managed to stay on but with damage to the Kawasaki, he had to pull in to the pits.
That left Johnston and Currie disputing the lead and it was the latter who was in front at half race distance. They were more than two seconds clear of third placed Nesbitt who’d got ahead of both Law and Perrin but the red flag was out soon afterwards after a seven-rider crash at Clearways.
Danny Webb was the first to go and with the Triumph seemingly having dropped fluid on the track, Scott Swann, Jack Scott, Jamie van Sikkelerus, James Hind, James Lodge and Jamie Collins soon followed.
Re-started over five laps, Kennedy was able to start from the back of the grid after some hasty repairs but it was Currie who led by almost a second after the first lap with Law, Johnston and Eunan McGlinchey leading the chase. Kennedy was already up to ninth!
Lap two saw Currie’s advantage increase to exactly a second with the order behind him still the same although Kennedy was now fifth after gaining another four places.
Johnston briefly got up to second next time around only to run wide at Hawthorn and although Currie’s lead remained the same, it was Law who was now in second with Kennedy third and Johnston back down to fourth. McGlinchey and Nesbitt were running in fifth and sixth.
Going into the final lap, Currie’s lead was down to 0.683s and he just held on to finally take his first win of the season, the gap to the line over Kennedy a miniscule 0.033s!
Law took third overall and the GP2 honours with Johnston in fourth completing the Supersport podium. Nesbitt, McGlinchey, Perrin, Truelove, Brandon Paasch and Rhys Irwin completed the top ten.