Kyle Smith put Dynavolt Triumph back on top in the Quattro Group British Supersport Championship with the Yorkshire rider taking a dominant win in the wet Feature race at Thruxton on Sunday afternoon from Ben Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki) and Charlie Nesbitt (RS Racing Kalex), the latter again the leading GP2 Cup rider.
Jack Kennedy (HEL Performance/Bournemouth Kawasaki) was the third best placed Supersport runner and that saw him regain the championship from Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) by four points.
After torrential rain caused the Honda Talent Cup riders to be wheeled off the grid, the race was cut from 18 laps to 15 and Smith led the field round at the end of the first lap from Currie and the Ulster contingent of Korie McGreevy (Mar-Train Racing Yamaha), Lee Johnston (Ashcourt Racing Yamaha) and Currie’s team-mate Eunan McGlinchey. Kennedy slotted into sixth with Perie down in ninth.
Smith’s advantage over Currie after two laps was only 0.289s but they were already more than three seconds clear of McGreevy with Johnston and McGlinchey sticking to the rear wheel of their countryman.
Kennedy was going with them but they remained three seconds a lap slower than the flying Smith and Currie who were almost seven seconds down the road after just three laps!
Lap four saw Currie hit the front for the first time, albeit by just 0.120s, and there was change further behind too as McGlinchey took over third from Kennedy with McGreevy and Johnston slipping back to fifth and sixth respectively.
Nesbitt was the leading GP2 Cup competitor in seventh but Perie, meanwhile, remained in ninth and was failing to make any headway.
Smith regained the lead on the fifth lap and a lap later, Kennedy overhauled McGlinchey for third, the Dubliner keen to regain the championship lead from the struggling Perie and maximise his points gain.
However, McGreevy was a man on a mission and grabbed third at half race distance only to suffer a slide at Church which saw Kennedy take avoiding action, dropping back to fifth as a result.
Back at the front and Smith now had a half second lead over Currie but it didn’t last long with Currie bringing it back down to a tenth a lap later. Kennedy regained third but McGreevy’s strong ride ended when he crashed out at Goodwood.
Currie was back in the lead on lap nine, having retaken the top spot on the way into the Complex but the duo continued to exchange places for the next couple of laps only for Smith to then put the hammer down and open a lead of more than two seconds.
He continued to extend his margin over Currie until the end of the race and he duly took his second win of the season by a dominant 6.9s from Currie with Nesbitt coming through from a sluggish start to claim third overall and top honours in the GP2 Cup class once more.
Kennedy took fourth overall but was the third best Supersport runner and that enabled him to retake the Championship lead from a disappointing Perie.
McGlinchey took fifth in the race from McGlinchey, Brandon Paasch on the second Dynavolt Triumph, Mason Law (Spirit Motocorsa) and Jack Scott (JJ Racing Harris) – second and third respectively in the GP2 Cup – with team-mates Perie and Rhys Irwin rounding out the top ten.
