Harry Truelove converted his pole position into a race win at Cadwell Park on Saturday afternoon after he just edged out Jack Kennedy on the run to the line in the Quattro Group British Supersport/GP2 Championship Sprint race.
The Truelove Brothers Racing Yamaha rider led from the start but a mistake with just one corner to go gave Kennedy the lead before the Lincoln rider regained it as they made the dash for the chequered flag.
Truelove got the jump off the line to lead into Coppice and he completed the first of 12 laps ahead of Bradley Perie, Ben Currie, Jack Scott, Brandon Paasch and Kennedy, the latter two swapping places next time around after Kennedy (HEL Performance/Bournemouth Kawasaki) slipped up the inside at Park.
The Dubliner used the same corner on lap three to overhaul Scott (JJ Racing Harris) for fourth but at the head of the field Truelove continued to lead the way, the gap to Perie having crept up to half a second.
Kennedy set the fastest lap on lap three to close in on the back wheel of Currie and whilst the front four were covered by a second, they, in turn, had opened up a second gap over the chasing pack which was led by Scott from Paasch, Nesbitt, Lee Johnston and Eunan McGlinchey.
Nesbitt got ahead of Paasch on lap five and set about closing the gap to GP2 rival Scott but it didn’t look like there’d be an overall win this time for any of the GP2 riders as the leading four were now more than two seconds down the road.
Truelove continued to lead, his advantage on lap six, half race distance, up to three quarters of a second as Kennedy continued to look for a way past Currie. And when the Australian had a moment at the hairpin, the former two-time champion needed no invitation and immediately took over the final podium position.
Currie fought back though to reclaim the position half a lap later by which time Truelove had extended his lead over Perie to 1.1s – and with Currie and Kennedy continuing to exchange places, the Appleyard Macadam Yamaha rider had also edged away slightly. Indeed, the fighting between the two Kawasaki riders for third had allowed Scott and Nesbitt to reel them back in.
However, by lap nine, less than half a second covered second to fourth with Kennedy finally having made a pass stick on Currie. And the pressure being applied by Kennedy showed on the penultimate lap when Perie lost the front, and his championship lead, at Charlie’s.
All this was happening behind Truelove but just when it looked like he’d take his second win in a row, he appeared to miss a gear coming out the hairpin and that allowed Kennedy to nose ahead.
Truelove had the top speed though on the run to the chequered flag to grab the win by 0.026s from Kennedy with Currie in third and Scott a comfortable fourth after Nesbitt went grass tracking at Park on the final lap.
Paasch came through for fifth ahead of Johnston, a recovering Nesbitt, McGlinchey, Cameron Horsman – the third highest placed GP2 rider – and James Hind. Championship contender Kyle Smith took 11th.
