Shane Byrne still in control after Snetterton BSB

© Glynne Lewis

By Dan Moakes
July 26 2013

In the 2013 British Superbike Championship, Shane Byrne was seemingly on course for his fourth title after six wins in eight races, with Josh Brookes and Alex Lowes the men in the best position to challenge him. The venue for round five of the series was Snetterton.

To be precise, the ‘Snetterton 300’ circuit is the modified version first used in 2011, with extra corners in a new infield section. Hot conditions greeted the riders in 2013, and qualifying saw the three usual contenders emerge fastest. Pole position went to Lowes, for Samsung Honda; second position on the grid went to Byrne, for Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki; and third went to Brookes, for Tyco Suzuki. Ryuichi Kiyonari backed up his form from Knockhill with his first row start for the season, taking fourth on the other Samsung machine.

The quickest Yamaha man led row two, with Milwaukee-backed James Ellison fifth; and team-mate Josh Waters was in twelfth. Sixth went to Chris Walker (Quattro Plant Kawasaki), from Tommy Bridewell (Bathams Honda), and Jakub Smrž (Padgett’s Honda). The two Buildbase BMWs led row three, with Jon Kirkham ahead of James Westmoreland, and then it was PJ Jacobsen (Tyco Suzuki) in P11. Matteo Baiocco was a best-yet of P13 with the Rapido Sport Ducati, from Dan Linfoot and Peter Hickman (both GBmoto Honda) and Lee Costello (Halsall Kawasaki). Keith Farmer missed out after getting hurt during practice.

Snetterton
Form guide: BSB wins
Ryuichi Kiyonari · 2005, 2006, 2006, 2007, 2007, 2010, 2011
Chris Walker · 1997, 2000
Shane Byrne · 2003, 2008
Josh Brookes · 2010, 2010
Michael Rutter · 2003

The start of race one saw Brookes get away in the lead, from Byrne, Lowes, Kiyonari and Ellison. There are now five more corners to get round to the back straight, which used to be called Revett but is now Bentley, which leads down to the heavy-braking left-right Esses, now known as Brundle and Nelson. Ellison was on the attack at the Brundle left-hander, being followed by sixth man Walker, then Bridewell, Smrž, Jacobsen, Westmoreland, Baiocco, Hickman, Michael Rutter (Bathams Honda), Waters and Costello.

The first three were soon moving clear of ‘Kiyo’, and it wasn’t long before Ellison completed a move to get by the former champion at the Esses. However, proceedings were held up in the early stages when Bridewell had to pull off as his Honda suffered a blow up. The resumption of the action saw Lowes overtake Byrne on the inside at Montreal, the right-handed hairpin at turn two. Immediately he also went through on Brookes on the inside at Agostini, the left-handed loop at turn four. Lowes was on a mission and proceeded to pull away in the lead.

This left a three-way contest for second, between Brookes, Byrne and Ellison. Behind Kiyonari and Walker, Westmoreland was up to seventh before he ran off the track and rejoined towards the rear of the field. This let Jacobsen into P7, from Smrž. Walker was another unlucky man as he dropped back with his bike smoking, which led to him being flagged off the circuit. Smrž also started to go the wrong way, falling behind Waters, the recovering Westmoreland and Robbin Harms (Doodson Honda).

The later stages saw Brookes gain some ground on Byrne behind, only for ‘Shakey’ to home in again right at the finish, missing out on second by a whisker or so. Lowes was out in front for his second win of the season, and Ellison was in sight of the podium with his fourth place finish. Kiyonari took a lonely fifth, well ahead of a close battle over sixth. Westmoreland’s run took him to the head of this queue, his last victim being Jacobsen. Unfortunately, the end of the penultimate lap saw PJ crash out of the right-handed Coram Curve, and approaching the right-left-right Murrays chicane. Luckily, there was no collision with those around him.

Therefore it was Westmoreland who came home sixth, just ahead of a group of five other riders. This group comprised four overseas men all getting their best BSB result to date: Harms seventh, then Smrž, Waters and Baiocco, with Kirkham eleventh. The remaining points went to the Lloyds British-backed pair, Linfoot and Hickman, then Danny Buchan (Quattro Plant Kawasaki) and Michael Howarth (MH Kawasaki).

Based on fastest race laps, the grid for race two saw Lowes on pole again, from Brookes, Byrne, Ellison, Kiyonari, Westmoreland, Walker, Smrž, Waters, Jacobsen, Kirkham, Harms, Baiocco, Linfoot, Hickman and Costello. But this time it was Byrne who headed the field away, with Ellison quickly losing out to Brookes, then Westmoreland in fourth. Lowes had started poorly, being almost immediately down in seventh, but gaining two places back at Montreal, therefore heading Kiyonari, Walker, Jacobsen and Smrž.

The right-hander onto the Bentley Straight is called Williams, and it was here that Harms had a big crash, caused when Kirkham suffered a highside in front of the Dane. The safety car was sent out, and on the restart it was Ellison who lost out the most. The first right-hander, Riches Corner, saw James passed by Lowes, and on the same lap he would end up back behind Westmoreland, Walker and Kiyonari, with Jacobsen and Waters following. Howie Mainwaring would have an early off-track moment, with Danny Buchan the next man to crash.

This all left the usual suspects setting the pace, Byrne heading Brookes and Lowes. This was the case until Josh found himself right on the rear of Shane at the Esses, meaning he had to run off track to avoid contact, resuming just out of range of the other pair. From there the Suzuki man would run in a solitary third, and meanwhile Kiyonari had been moving up. After passing Walker, Kiyo had got ahead of Westmoreland in a move at Montreal, but with the other two sticking fairly close.

This time the win went to Byrne, just ahead of Lowes, the top six completed by Brookes, Kiyonari, Westmoreland and Walker. From the tail end of the top ten, Smrž had crashed at Murrays, whilst Jacobsen had lost places so that Waters was a best-yet seventh, ahead of Linfoot. Ellison had recovered from P15 to take ninth at the flag, from Baiocco, Jacobsen, Bridewell, Hickman and Costello. With only fifteen finishers this time out, Jenny Tinmouth (Two Wheel Racing Honda) achieved a landmark result as the first female racer to score a point in British Superbikes.

With James Ellison having a disappointing run of five consecutive races off the podium, the most consistent rostrum visitors were starting to make the 2013 BSB season into a three-way contest. Alex Lowes scored the most points on the day, but Shane Byrne (seven wins and nine podium results) maintained a healthy margin over Lowes and Josh Brookes (with eight podium results each, and Lowes on two wins). That still left all four of the major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers represented in the top places on the championship table. Can we expect more of the same next time out?

Standings after ten races: Byrne 207; Lowes 175; Brookes 172; Ellison 100; Kiyonari 83; Kirkham 81; Westmoreland 77; Walker 75; Jacobsen 52; Farmer 50.
podium credits: Byrne 23, Lowes 16, Brookes 13, Ellison 6, Kiyonari 2.

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