World Superbike 2003 - Round 9 - Brands Hatch

Shane Byrne blitzed them in race one and lined up on the grid for race two hoping for a repeat performance. Sean Emmett jumped the start and led the field from Walker, Byrne and Reynolds. Laconi and Toseland also off to a good start. Emmett got the board to tell him to come in for a stop-go penalty as they started lap 2 but still led Walker and Byrne around the next lap. Reynolds started to attack Walker for 3rd position early on the third lap and it didn't take him long to slide the Suzuki up in front of Walker.

Toseland also started coming on song and started closing on Walker after setting the fastest lap.

John Reynolds then put a great move on Shane Byrne for 2nd place on the track. Emmett was out in front but still had to come in for his stop-go penalty so in reality Reynolds was the race leader. Toseland got the better of Walker on lap 5 but Walker came right back at him. Emmett got black flagged the next lap around and finally twigged to the fact that he had been penalised so pulled off the track for his penalty.

The battle for the race lead was a fairly tight affair with Reynolds leading from Byrne, with Walker and Toseland right behind. Then only a couple of bike lengths back to Xaus, Hodgson and Lavilla, the top seven all covered by only 1.3 seconds after lap 9 of 25. Byrne got the lead from Reynolds the next lap around as the 7-way battle tightened up even further.

Xaus got through on Walker for 4th place a lap later. Hodgson also took Walker after another couple of laps. Then Walker went down at the end of lap 15.

Meanwhile the battle for the lead was still being waged between Byrne and Reynolds with Toseland and Xaus also trying to figure in the war while Hodgson observed from a safe distance in 5th position.

In the final few laps things started to string a little further apart. Byrne and Reynolds continued nose-to-tail up front while Toseland was trying valiantly to stay with them and leaving large smoky slides behind his 998 but he couldn't hang with the two British Superbike regulars out in front. Xaus also struggling for grip had drifted to a slightly more distant 4th with Neil Hodgson becoming a threat.