Brookes has the edge as BSB Title scrap intensifies at Snetterton
Josh Brookes took the lead in the chase for the MCE Insurance British Superbike crown in the previous round but heading into the triple race seventh round at Snetterton the popular Aussie rider knows that he will be under severe pressure from Tommy Hill who is eager to make up lost ground.
There are just four points between them as they power into the high-speed Norfolk circuit with its renowned slip-streaming battles on the long Revett Straight and these races, the first on Saturday afternoon held over from the weather ravaged Knockhill round, come at a crucial stage of the season with all of the riders focussed on rich points hauls to ensure they are in the top six after the August Bank Holiday Monday Cadwell Park round to enter the championship deciding “show-down” finale.
That should ensure fierce competition throughout this coming weekend with HM Plant Honda rider Brookes, now recovered from the bruising he took in a tumble during testing the previous week at Darley Moor, determined to chalk up better results than his pair of third placings in the corresponding round of last year.
Brookes is gunning for glory but Hill is keen to return to the early season dominance that put him clear in the points standings as in the first six races he took two victories and four other podium finishes before a change of fortune has seen the Worx Crescent Suzuki rider take only three points hauls, one a second place in the last five outings.
That is something that Hill is keen to rectify starting here, but, he is well aware that nothing comes easy, and apart from the obvious threat of Brookes, he will have to contend with two times former winner of the British crown Ryuichi Kiyonari.
He returns from a hectic trip back to Japan to test for Honda ahead of the Suzuka Eight Hours races and is determined to build on the recent run of form that has taken him to three victories and a second place, with them, third place in the title stakes.
Kiyonari enjoys riding Snetterton, holding the lap record that was set in his winning double of 2006, results that he replicated the following year, and the HM Plant Honda is focussed on another action replay as he battles to hold at bay the close challenges posed by both Michael Laverty and Michael Rutter in the overall standings.
Laverty, riding Relentless Suzuki, has been a top six finisher in the previous eight races, including a victory at Oulton Park while Rutter, the most experienced rider in the pack is enjoying the RidersMotorcycles.com Ducati recording consistent results, pepped by a victory last time out in the damp of Scotland, a result that made him the sixth rider so far this season to taste the BSB victor’s champagne.
Just adrift of them, John Laverty, riding the Buildbase Ducati, currently occupies the all important sixth place in the points, but, he will need to ride hard to maintain that under threat from Alastair Seeley, aboard the second Relentless Suzuki, and the Flying Scot Stuart Easton, the Swan Honda rider, who is needs strong results to get his title challenge back on track.
Easton’s team-mate James Ellison will be striving to rekindle the form that earned him an opening round victory before the crash in practice for the Thruxton round left him with a broken thigh – this will be Cumbrian’s third round since being passed fit to ride.
He will be under pressure from MSS Colchester Kawasaki duo Simon Andrews and Gary Mason while Motorpoint Yamaha riders Dan Linfoot and Andrew Pitt are keen to impress.
South African Hudson Kennaugh, riding the MAR Kawasaki, expects to increase his lead in the chase for the Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO crown but Steve Brogan, aboard the Jentin BMW, has other ideas as he bids for victories to get back ahead, though both need to check the challenge of in form Aussie Dave Johnson aboard the Two Brothers Kawasaki.
— Came Yamaha hoping to close the gap at Snetterton
The CAME Yamaha team return to action this weekend at Snetterton for the seventh round of the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship as James Westmoreland aims for the series lead and Billy McConnell targets a third victory.
Westmoreland has his sights firmly fixed on closing the 15 point deficit to championship leader Sam Lowes and believes that the high-speed Snetterton circuit will suit the CAME Yamaha. McConnell meanwhile knows he has the potential to win at the Norfolk circuit; he was leading here last year until he suffered a technical problem which forced him to retire.
Westmoreland said: “I am raring to go for the weekend and it would definitely be good for me to win after the last two rounds. I just need to keep calm and just chip away like we have done all season and then the points will just come to us. The team have been working hard again since Knockhill to try and find that little bit extra, so that should give us an extra edge. We did lose our championship lead at the last round, but I am not worried as we know the CAME Yamaha is fast and the circuit is similar to Thruxton and we won there. I am feeling relaxed about the weekend and I know that we are on for a good weekend.”
McConnell said: “I want to get back out there this weekend and make up for not being on the podium last time out at Knockhill. I have a mixed history at the circuit, but the aim is to turn that around this weekend. I didn’t finish the race there last year as I had a mechanical problem and that was probably the reason I didn’t win the title, so I want to be back on the top step to put that behind me for good. We know the CAME Yamaha is fast and that is important at Snetterton, the boys have also been working hard since Knockhill to make some more improvements so it is game on for us. There is no question now, I need to win and anything less is not good enough.”
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