Ben Currie back on top in BSB SS | Staring 7th in STK | MCNews.com.au

Glenn Irwin on SBK Pole – Josh Brookes P2

Jason O’Halloran qualifies 10th

Billy McConnell on STK1000 pole but DNF in race

Bryan Staring 7th in STK1000 Race

Ben Currie back on top step in Supersport

With series leader Jack Kennedy forced to miss the Brands Hatch weekend through injury, Gearlink Kawasaki’s Ben Currie maximised his Championship challenge with victory in the opening race at Brands Hatch to close the gap between himself and the championship leader back down to 29-points.

2018-BSB-Rnd2-Brands-Hatch-Ben-Currie-2-Supersport — Ben Currie

David Allingham had grabbed the holeshot, however Currie had soon muscled his way through by the end of the opening lap.

Pulling away from the rest of the field, Currie was able to build a small gap at the front however a consecutive run of fastest laps saw Allingham close up to just 0.189s at the start of the final lap, however a red flag thwarted any attempt at the lead seeing Currie take the win whilst Ross Twyman completed the podium in third.

Kyle Ryde was the first of the GP2 machines, narrowly beating Josh Owens by 0.6s, with the pair finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

British Supersport, Brands Hatch, Sprint Race

Ben Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki)
David Allingham (EHA Racing) +0.189s
Ross Twyman (EHA Racing Yamaha) +2.049s
Jamie Perrin (Go Racing Yamaha) +3.629
Kyle Ryde (RS Racing Kalex) +7.250s
Josh Owens (RS Racing Kalex) +7.853

Dickies British Supersport Championship Standings

Jack Kennedy (Integro Yamaha) 240
Ben Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki) 211
Ross Twyman (EHA Racing Yamaha) 134
James Westmoreland (Gearlink Kawasaki) 117
James Rispoli (Everquip Racing Yamaha) 117
David Allingham (EHA Racing) 97

Superstock 1000

EHA Racing’s Joe Collier has picked up victory in the first Pirelli National Superstock 1000 race, thus taking the lead in the Championship, after picking up victory in both parts of the race.

The first 16 lap outing saw Tom Neave grab the holeshot, with pole-sitter Billy McConnell and BMW’s Taylor MacKenzie following. On lap four Neave ran into mechanical trouble but quickly fixed the issue after dropping back to tenth, allowing Skippy to take the lead. However, just a matter of corners later he crashed out of the race, allowing MacKenzie to the take the lead.

2018-BSB-Rnd4-Snetterton-Billy-McConnell-at-speed-with-Joe-Collier-ImageDYeomans — Joe Collier and Billy McConnell – Image by Dave Yeomans

The battle for the lead then spiced up between Farmer and Collier, and at the flag, he grabbed the victory from the Tyco BMW man on the line, with Neave third.

After re-fuelling in pit lane, it was Farmer who grabbed the holeshot for the second 16 lapper, but Neave quickly grabbed the lead after the opening lap. The Suzuki man maintained the gap over Farmer, who crashed out on lap 10 as he was in pursuit of the leader. Collier quickly moved his way into second and went after Neave at the front.

On the final lap both Collier and Neave duked it out for the win, but it would be Collier who grabbed the victory from Josh Elliot and Alex Olsen, after Neave crashed at the final corner.

Brands Hatch STK1000 Race Results

Joe Collier – Aprilia
Josh Elliott – Suzuki +1.535
Alex Olsen – BMW +8.023
Matt Truelove – Yamaha +11.116
Lee Jackson – Kawasaki +11.223
Sam Coventry – BMW +16.779
Bryan Staring – Kawasaki +18.398
Dean Hipwell – BMW +21.322
Jonathan Railton – Suzuki +29.019
Geroge Stanley – Suzuki +34.244

BSB STK1000 Championship Points

Joe Collier 162
Keith Farmer 155
Billy McConnell 133
Andy Reid 79
Lee Jackson 77

BSB Superbike Qualifying Brands Hatch

Glenn Irwin claimed his first pole position in the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch this afternoon, launching the Be Wiser Ducati to the top of the times to hold off Josh Brookes in an incredibly close Datatag Qualifying, with the top nine covered by just 0.696s.

BSB Brands Glenn Irwin Pole — Glenn Irwin – Be Wiser Ducati

Glenn Irwin – Be Wiser Ducati – Pole position

“I’m really, really happy to take pole position and we’ve had a good strategy all weekend although the changes we made for FP3 didn’t work for me in the way that we thought they would. We went back to what we had in FP1 for qualifying although there were still two areas where I know I needed to improve and fair play to Johnny (Mowatt), Ryan (Rainey) and Phil (Borley) on my side of the garage as they gave me a bike that was faultless for Q3. I’m over the moon to get pole position so I feel we’re in a good place ahead of the two races.”

Irwin had topped Friday’s free practice sessions and set the initial benchmark in Q3 after the first round of fast laps with Luke Mossey, Christian Iddon and Richard Cooper in close contention, but a hectic final stage of qualifying saw positions change throughout.

Tarran Mackenzie leapt into second place for the McAMS Yamaha team but then Jake Dixon moved ahead, but in the closing minutes Brookes fired in a faster lap to claim second place and just 0.081s adrift of the pole position.

BSB Brands Josh Brookes — Josh Brookes will start from P2

The battle was on for the final place on the front row, but it was just 0.001s that settled it with Dixon having the edge to push Mackenzie back onto the second row ahead of Leon Haslam and Luke Mossey on the JG Speedfit Kawasakis.

BSB Brands Jake Dixon Glen Richards — Jake Dixon with South Australian crew chief Glen Richards

Christian Iddon heads the third row for Tyco BMW ahead of Andrew Irwin who got caught out in the final minute of the session with a crash at Paddock Hill Bend, but he was able to walk away unhurt, with Richard Cooper completing the top nine riders in Q3.

It will be a tough start for Tommy Bridewell on his debut with the Moto Rapido Ducati team; a crash at the start of qualifying saw him out of contention in Q1 and starting from 26th on the grid for tomorrow’s opening race. James Ellison also slid out of contention in Q2, putting the Anvil Hire TAG Yamaha rider 18th on the grid.